"If anyone among you is sisk?  S/he should summon the presbyters (priests) of the Church and they should pray over them and anoing them with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up.  If s/he has committed any sins, s/he will be forgiven." (James 5:14-15)

In the Church's Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, through the ministry of the priest, it is Jesus who touches the sick to heal them from sin – and sometimes even from physical ailment. His cures were signs of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. The core message of his healing tells us of his plan to conquer sin and death by his dying and rising.

The Rite of Anointing tells us there is no need to wait until a person is at the point of death to receive the Sacrament. A careful judgment about the serious nature of the illness is sufficient.

When the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given, the hoped-for effect is that, if it be God's will, the person be physically healed of illness. But even if there is no physical healing, the primary effect of the Sacrament is a spiritual healing by which the sick person receives the Holy Spirit's gift of peace (through reconciliation) and courage to deal with the difficulties that accompany serious illness or the frailty of old age.  (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults)

If you are experiencing immediate health problems or are scheduled for a surgery in the next week, please ask Fr. John before or immediately after Mass to celebrate the Sacrament of Anointing with you after the Mass.  Those accompanying you at the Mass will be most welcome to be and pray with you during the Ritual.  The Ritual takes less than 10 minutes.

When you are admitted into the Hospital, either through the Admitting Desk or through the Emergency Room, please note on the admitting form that you are a Roman Catholic AND a member of St. Therese Parish.

If you are entering through the Emergency Room and the emergency is life-threatening, either you or the person accompanying you should request the immediate presence of a priest.  There is a Catholic Chaplain Cassian Hardy) who covers both Sparrow and MacLaren Hospitals and will call the priest who is scheduled for that month's "on-call" ministry.  There are no fewer than three (3) on-call priests that he can contact and, as a 4th option, he can always call Fr. John.

If and when you are admitted to a hospital room and when you are able, please call the St. Therese Parish Office at (517) 487-3749 to let the Parish know that you are in the hospital and would like to be anointed (if not already anointed) or to have a visit from Fr. John or Deacon Dave.

Reception of the Eucharist

An Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharistic from a Catholic parish in Lansing assigned to bring the Eucharist to every Catholic each day.  Times for the Minister to visit the rooms are not consistent, however.  If you are away from your hospital room for surgery, testing or rehabilitation, you may miss that day's distribution.

Deacon Dave routinely visits Sparrow Hospital one day each week - and/or when a visit is specifically requested.  Though deacons are not empowered to celebrate the Sacrament of Anointing or the Sacrament of Reconciliation, deacons will readily bring the Eucharist and be happy to sit, visit, pray with you AND arrange for a priest to celebrate the Sacrament of Anointing with you if you want.

In the case of grave illness, you are about the pass from this life into eternal life and you are at home, please call Fr. John's emergency phone number, (517) 487-3711.  Fr. John will come to anoint, offer viaticum (bread for the journey) if conscious and pray the Commendation for the Dying with the gathered family and friends.

St. Therese Parish celebrates the Sacrament of Anointing in community twice each year, usually after a 10:30 am Sunday Mass.

"The Anointing of the Sick is not a sacramnet only for those who are at the point of death.  Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him/her to receive this sacrament has certainly arrived.

If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, s/he can in the case of another grace illness, receive this sacrament again.  If during the same illness, the person's condition becomes more serious, the sacrament may be repeated.  It is fitting to receive the Anointing of the Sick just prior to a serious operation.  The same holds for the elderly whose frailty becomes more pronounced."  (CCC 1514, 1515)

Effects of the Celebration of this Sacrament (CCC 1520-1523)

1. A particular gift of the Holy Spirit: the grace of strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age.
2. Union with the passion of Christ: united more closely to Christ's passion, the person, in a certain way, is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive Passion.
3. An ecclesial grace: united with the passion and death of Christ, the person contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to the Father
4.  A preparation for the final journey: completing our conformity to the death and Resurrection of Christ, just as Baptism began it, the person is fortified at the end of his/her end of earthly life