This sacrament is for those who are seriously ill or who are weakened by illness or in need of God's healing grace. We have a communal ceremony in the fall of each year at the Saturday evening Mass... Those in hospitals and nursing homes are usually anointed there by the priests assigned as chaplains. For the ill at home, please call the rectory and we will come and celebrate this sacrament the home. This sacrament has a powerful effect upon the sick person (CCC 1520-21):

• Strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age”
• “Healing of the soul, but also of the body if such is God's will.
• Forgiveness of sin.
• “Union with the passion of Christ.” One’s suffering becomes “a participation in the saving work of Jesus.”
• Allows the sick person, by their suffering, to "contribute to the good of the People of God," building up the holiness of the Church and all people.
• “A preparation for the final journey.”

The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are seriously ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with duly blessed oil—pressed from olives or from other plants—saying, only once:"Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1513).

However, the classical description which the Bible gives of the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is found in the Epistle of St. James: