Dear Father: My friend died of pancreatic cancer last year. He had been away from the Church for the past 60 years or so and lived a rather wild life. As he was receiving chemotherapy, a priest came across him at the hospital and offered to give him the sacrament of anointing. He wasn’t able to get to Mass and died soon after that. Before his death, I asked my friend how it felt to go to confession after all that time. He said there was no confession. The priest told him that the anointing took care of all his sins. Why don’t we advertise that more? I think more people would convert if they didn’t have to confess their sins. – W.B.
Dear W.B.: We don’t advertise the experience of your friend because, if I understand you correctly, what you describe is off the mark. Either there is more to the story, or the priest was wrong. Let me explain.
Based on your explanation, the priest encountered your friend and had a conversation that led to your friend being anointed. You indicate that your friend said that he didn’t confess his sins. Therefore, I conclude that there was no sacrament of penance or confession, just anointing.
Furthermore, since you said that your friend had lived a wild life, there were probably mortal sins involved. At the very least, since he was away from the Church for a lengthy time, he had not been going to Mass and at least annual Holy Communion, which is a serious sin in itself.
Now, all serious sin – that is, mortal sins – must be submitted to God, not just in a private thought but through the sacrament of penance or confession. Christ Himself instituted penance or confession for the remission of serious sins committed after baptism so that we can be made holy and go to heaven.
Every priest knows that he must ask basic questions when he encounters someone needing the sacrament of anointing, at least when the person is awake and mentally competent. A priest would be negligent to simply dole out anointings without due regard for the state of the soul of the sick or dying person, for the priest is the healer of souls.
Many people think that the sacrament of anointing (of the sick and dying) forgives sin and that penance is not necessary. While it’s true that forgiveness happens in anointing, there is much more to it.
We should always be wary of cheap grace, by which I mean that there is a “cost” to being in a right relationship with God. That “cost” is our assent, our “yes,” our full surrender to God. And our “yes” includes being contrite for all our past “nos.”
Even on a human level when we have been wronged, we recognize the need for repentance from the person who wronged us before there can be a reunion, a renewal of friendship. We don’t sit down to dinner with our enemies without first having made them our friends through the healing of hurts. Our enemy needs to repent of the hurts he caused us, and we must restore him with forgiveness. So it is with God.
Having repented of past sins through the sacrament of penance and having one’s soul set right with God, one is then ready to receive the new grace of bearing physical suffering with Christ. Anointing consecrates our suffering. That’s why it is essential to be ready for that consecration by receiving absolution through confession.
Many people do not understand that anointing is the sacrament by which the physically sick (as well as those who are dying) are consecrated with the oil of the sick. By that consecration, Christ unites the sick person with His own cross and suffering. Thus, the sick or dying person, who is unable to do much of anything on account of the sickness, is intimately joined to Christ, and the suffering become a means of salvation for others.
In the sacrament of anointing, we don’t merely surrender to suffering. We surrender our suffering to Christ, and He transforms the evilness of bodily suffering and weakness into something powerful. This is the unique gift that Jesus has given to us!
Finally, what if your friend were unconscious (not merely asleep but medically unaware) or mentally deficient (as happens with Alzheimer’s disease)? In this case, and only in this case, does the sacrament of anointing supply for forgiveness, if the unconscious person would have wanted it. It is an act of generosity on the part of God and the Church. Should the unconscious person revive, it would be necessary to confess his/her mortal sins and receive absolution.
To address the last line of your question: Conversion to the true faith is not a matter of great numbers; it is a matter of a changed heart. Hearts change, the Scriptures repeatedly tell us, when they are broken of their pride and self-sufficiency. That’s what contrition is. Penance requires contrition; contrition requires confession.
That’s God’s word, not mine.
