FOS SUMMARY - The Lord of the Rings-Living the Sacraments
Holy Unction: Therapy for our Wounds
by Dorothy Poli & Daniel Padovano & Helen Tellas
October 28, 2008
What do we all carry with us?
Healing our individual wounds
We all carry our wounds (physical, spiritual, emotional and psychological). These hurts that we have been victim to as well as those we have inflicted on others remain as scars. Even if they have been forgiven, we are left sick and in pain.
Jesus crucified, and transfigured had wounds, and wants us to probe them (as did
In Holy Unction, we receive the healing power of God that soothes the wounds and cures us. The appropriate posture is ‘I cannot heal myself”. This posture is acknowledgment of dependence on God Who is the only Person who can heal our wounds, our pain and our sins. It is an act of trust because we rely on God’s abounding mercy and love for us as well as His healing power. This acknowledgment requires humility on the part of the recipient and is the proper posture for receiving any of the Sacraments.
Holy Unction is connected to both Holy Confession and Holy Communion. The Church recommends all three. Confession is for healing through exposing the wounds, Communion is for healing through God’s eternal, self-sacrificial love, and Unction is healing therapy through God’s mercy. Christ indicated that the only prerequisite for receiving Holy Communion is to reconcile with each of His other children so that all become one united body in communion with Him.
Healing the Wounds of the Community
Holy Unction is an action of the community. The healing is not only individual but involves the whole body of the community. As with liturgies, there are no private unctions. Holy Unction connects us with each other because we are all hurt and wounded in some way and are seeking God’s healing hand. As God heals us, it also empowers us to help heal one another with love, compassion, kindness and mercy. The ointment that brings forgiveness also brings relief and peace to us individually and in community.
The posture is never one of reward. When we come with ego, it breaks down the power of the Holy Spirit and that of the Church. When we come together as a wounded body in recognition of our need for healing, it is real and powerful. The closer we get to one another in a real way, the more we become brothers and sisters in Christ. Christ says “where two or more are gathered, I am in your midst”. We are united by the love of Christ for the love of Christ.
Christ’s love energizes us to break ourselves open to one another through our brains, wallets, time and our hearts in service to one another. The relationship of human persons to each other is a symbiotic one. The Church philosophy is that we are one body. This idea is in contrast to societal attitudes that deemphasize community leading to isolation and individualism– you are on your own and can do it only with your own power.
Even ascetic monks are connected to a community. They give themselves to God and in service to others by praying for the whole world – even for those who have no one to pray for them.
HOLY WEDNESDAY
On Holy Wednesday, Holy Unction is performed with oil and the lighting with each of seven candles prior to the reading of each of seven gospels, seven epistles and seven prayers. Ideally and traditionally, there should be seven priests as well. Seven is an important number as this represents the fullness of the Church.
The candles to be lit are placed in bowl of flour, and the oil is placed in a smaller bowl in the center of the flour. The flour is then used for the prosforo for Holy Thursday’s Communion which represents the Last Supper. This represents that we are healed by participation in the Sacraments. This Thursday morning is also the last liturgy of the dead. There is never a liturgy on Holy Friday. The next liturgy is on Holy Saturday morning, when Christ announces the Resurrection to the dead and then later that day to us in the midnight Resurrection Service and liturgy.
The Sacraments are supposed to be given to the faithful in good standing. If taken home, one person should perform the role of the priest and anoint the rest. Then that individual should be anointed by someone else as a sign of humility. In the case of a sick person, the administering priest will use some of the reserve that remains from the previous Holy Wednesday service. The oil and water sold at monasteries or other holy places are sacramentals but not Sacraments.
FOS Summaries are synopses of discussions points, organized and presented conceptually, in a session's dialogue and Q&A among Fr. Frank and FOS participants. The Summaries' authors further elaborate on certain ideas from a theme offered by Fr. Frank. All Summaries are approved by Fr. Frank prior to e-mail distribution. Past summaries can be found on the Cathedral website at http://www.thecathedral.goarch.org/FOSSummary/.