Hey folks! Our current unit in the kids curriculum is about the Church: what it is, what it does, and what it means to be a part of it.
Click here for a general overview of the unit.
For the next three weeks we'll be continuing to discuss the "Ecclesial Sacraments."
We've been saying that the Church’s mission is to go and to gather. As it gathers, we are to be learning everything Jesus commanded us (Matt. 28:20). This week we're talking about the Sacrament of Unction, or Anointing the Sick
Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness a person experiences their powerlessness, their limitations, and their finitude. Every illness can makes us glimpse death. It can also lead a person to anguish, self-absorption, and sometimes even despair and revolt against God. It can also, however, be the occasion for growth: illness well-handled can make a person more mature, helping them discern in their life what is not essential so that they can turn toward that which is. A serious illness can also often provoke a search for God and a return to him (cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 417).
Christ had a lot to say and do about illness in his earthly ministry, and the physical healing of illness was a common effect of his presence and attention. See for example, Mark 1:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Mark 5:24-34; Luke 17:11-19; John 11:1-44; Matthew 21:14; Luke 5:17-26; Matthew 8:1-3; John 9:1-12; Luke 13:13.
The healing effect of Jesus’ ministry is both a gift to the healed and a sign of his true nature: the Great Physician long foretold has arrived, and “God has visited his people!” (Luke 7:16).
While the whole of Jesus’ ministry extends beyond physical healing (e.g., the remission of sins, etc.), it is ultimately, a part of the fullness of salvation—the general resurrection is the final stage of salvation, when all God’s people are restored to resurrection bodies to life forevermore.
As a continuing sign of this end, and an invocation of the Healer himself, Jesus commanded his disciples in several places to heal and anoint the sick. Since we recognize that healing is an act of God, our task in this ministry is to offer the sick up to God, that he would heal them in his time—either now or in the last day. Thus James teaches, “Is anyone of you sick? Let him call for the presbyters [priests] of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14).
Scripture to consider:
Matthew 10:8
Mark 5:21-43
Acts 3:1-5
James 5:14
Questions for your kids
Do you think Jesus cares about how your body feels? Why or why not?
Have you ever been sick? What is it like? Do you think this is how God wanted us to feel?
Jesus is going to heal everyone’s body, now or when he returns to give us all new bodies. Why do you think Jesus promised us this? (Hint: because the body is a good thing he made, and he doesn’t leave his good things to rot!)
Holy Imagination
Learning the faith isn't just about memorizing facts. It's about seeing the world as it really is: "charged with the grandeur of God."
Read the story of St. Catherine of Siena, and ask your kids why they think God might call someone to spend their life taking care of the poor and the sick.
Peace,
Danny+