Day 209: Summary of the Anointing of the Sick (1526-1532)

• It’s Day 209!!

• MCNUGGET DAY!!

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we ask you to please come and meet us in our need. Come and be with us in this moment. Fill our breath, our lungs, with your Holy Spirit. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Fill our minds with your truth, with your clarity, with your goodness. Help us to say YES to you this moment and every moment of our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• This is an invitation for us to REFLECT ON OUR OWN DEATH

• IN FACT…

• So much of our life gets to be practice for death

• We don’t necessarily think about our death or the death of the people immediately around us

• We might hear about acquaintances and people far from us dying

• We typically avoid doing deep reflecting on our death

• NOT WORRYING

• Reflecting and worrying are not the same thing

• You may think about death all the time

• You may be scared and worried about it all the time

• You may worry about the death of your loved ones or family members

• That’s not the same thing as REFLECTING

• Reflecting means PRAYING AND MEDITATING ON YOUR OWN DEATH

• There are preparations for death that the Church gives us every week

• IN FACT…

• There is a preparation for death we can do EVERY DAY

• The Church invites us to make an EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE every single day

• St. Ignatius of Loyola called it THE CONSCIOUSNESS EXAMEN

• A lot of Jesuits do this, it is a part of their spiritual life

• Ask the Holy Spirit first, “Holy Spirit, come to help me and give me guidance in this.”

• At the end of your day, go over the day in your mind and ask, “Where was God in my day?”

• Where was God in this day?

• Where were God’s offerings of grace and where did I say yes to that?

• Go over your blessings of the day and thank God for them

• Then go back over your day and ask where was God inviting me to say YES to something or to say NO to something and I didn’t really say YES or I didn’t say NO?

• Where did I fail to see God today?

• Go over those moments and repent of those

• Make a resolution to renew that YES to the Lord and NO to sin on a regular basis the next day

• This  consciousness examen is helpful for us in preparation for death because we can tell if we are consistently saying YES to God or if we are DISMISSING God, or if we are INDIFFERENT to God or if we are IGNORING God or if we are REJECTING GOD

• So often we think we are PROBABLY choosing God FOR THE MOST PART

• BUT…

• If we stop on regular basis and look back and ask if I am actively saying YES to God

• OR…

• Am I more or less indifferent to God?

• OR…

• Am I rejecting God?

• You could be on a walk right now

• You could be taking a drive somewhere

• Was I actively saying YES to God in all of this?

• Was I indifferent to God in any of this?

• Was I saying NO to God in any of this?

• Sometimes we get to the end of the day and think we aren’t rejecting God, or we aren’t choosing a bunch of sin all day

• We also may think we are not intentionally saying YES to God

• We may think that God is kind of not there

• We may think that God is absent from 0uor day

• WE KNOW THAT GOD IS ALWAYS EVERYWHERE!!

• So God was not really absent from your day

• God was just absent from your THOUGHTS

• God was just absent from your CHOICES

• God was just absent from your HEART

• That’s not meant to be accusatory

• THIS IS ALL OF US!!

• That is one of the things we get to do at the end of our lives

• We had all this time

• 10 years

• 20 years

• 70 years

• Was I intentionally saying YES to God at that time?

• Was I rebelling against God?

• Was I rejecting God?

• Was I indifferent to God?

• The second thing the Church gives us every WEEK is Fridays

• Fridays are a day of PENANCE

• Every year, Lent or even Advent is a penitential SEASON

• Those Fridays and seasons are also times to prepare ourselves for death

• We can ask ourselves what am I bound by?

• Where am I not free?

• Sin can leave us attached to sin

• Sin can make us develop bad habits

• I may have an inordinate need for baklava

• So maybe I need to give up baklava on Fridays 

• (Coffee for you in this example 😉)

• If we have an inordinate need for something, whatever that thing is, maybe we need to give that thing up on Fridays or during Lent or during Advent

• At least one day a week

• God wants my freedom

• I can’t go to Heaven if I am holding onto this too tightly

• It doesn’t have to be a sin

• I have to be willing and able to let go of stuff

• Every DAY is the consciousness examen

• Every WEEK is Friday penance

• Every YEAR is Lent and Advent with these seasons where we practice dying

• The Church wants us to be ready to die

• That’s not only why we have these practices

• It is also why we have Anointing of the Sick

• We can receive Anointing of the Sick whenever we fall seriously ill, extreme old age, etc.

• If your illness worsens you can get anointed again

• The Anointing of the Sick gives us these particular graces uniting us to the Passion of Jesus for our own good and for the good of the whole Church 

• It gives us strength, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian way the sufferings of illness or old age

• It gives us forgiveness of sins if we had not had the chance to go to Reconciliation

• Sometimes it even heals which is INCREDIBLE

• God still heals even today

• Above all, it prepares us for passing over to Eternal Life

• We need to pray for all of those who have gone before us and prepare our own hearts for our own making of this great, incredible journey from this life into Eternal Life

• We must pray, “Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and the perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace and rise with Christ. Amen.”

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!