The Anointing of the Sick

I just finished The Anointing of the Sick by Paul Meyendorff. The back cover describes it as:

The healing ministry of Jesus Christ is a primary task of the Church. This work describes the healing ministry of the Church as it is expressed in Scripture, Tradition, and the liturgical life, focusing particularly on the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. The author discusses both the history and theology of this sacrament, which has its roots in the Tradition of the Church as expressed in James 5.14(–) 15: “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” The theology of this rite embraces the whole person and addresses the connection between sin and sickness, and the disintegrating power of illness on a person and the reintegrating power of grace. A new translation of the rite is appended, as well as an abbreviated version for use in a hospital or home setting.


I will add that a few ideas are given repeated voice in the text.

1. The Slavic practice of anointing the sick as a "last resort" of sorts follows Latinization that moved the rite from its initial place to something akin to "extreme unction."
2. The rite is often misunderstood to be a personal act between the person suffering an illness and his priest when in fact the anointing plays a very important role in maintaining and reaffirming the sick individual's place within the Body of Christ.
3. Anointing is sometimes seen as a general forgiveness of sin (often as a result of a misapprehension of the wording of the rite or in understanding that "we all need healing and forgiveness") on par with confession. It is in fact no such thing and there should be no conflation of the two.
4. Care for the infirm is increasingly falling to the parish priest. The author references Biblical and historical sources to propose an increased role by the laity in the care of its sick.
5. Much of the book outlines in detail the relationship between healing as the primary act of the Church. It is also worth noting that he makes many good points about how the Church heals and what it is healing; modern medicine vs. the Church, the healing of the body vs. spiritual healing, etc.
   
6. I particularly liked his treatment of the healing miracles of Christ and how they interacted with the later actions of those healed. Often these miracles can be seen as concrete examples of His power or compassion, but the act of healing also had more long lasting effects. To paraphrase the author: We must remember that they got sick again and died. His purpose was not just to fix them until they grew sick again, but something more profound.