When Is the Anointing of the Sick Celebrated?
If you are seriously ill or will be undergoing surgery, you are encouraged to receive the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

• It is available to any individual at any time. If you call the church, A priest from our parish will be happy to come to your home or hospital room.
• At St. Charles Borromeo Church, many people receive the sacrament prior to surgery or admission to the hospital. It is celebrated after any weekday or weekend Mass in our chapel, where family members and friends can pray with them. When the sacrament is celebrated in this way, it not only expresses Christ’s healing presence for the sick person but offers reassurance to those who care about them.
• The sacrament can also be celebrated at Mass with the entire community present. This is a powerful experience of the whole community praying for its sick members. At St. Charles Borromeo Church, the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is celebrated communally during the weekend liturgies twice a year, during Lent and Advent. For the communal celebration of Holy Mass with the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, please check the bulletin or call the Office.

________________________________________________________________________
A priest from our parish will be happy to come to your home or hospital room at any time to anoint anyone who needs it. Simply call the parish office at 713-692-6303. 
 
Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament of the Catholic Church that is administered to a Catholic "who, having reached the age of reason, begins to be in danger due to sickness or old age",^[1] except in the case of those who "persevere obstinately in manifest grave sin".^[2] Proximate danger of death, the occasion for the administration of Viaticum, is not required, but only the onset of a medical condition of serious illness or injury or simply old age: "It is not a sacrament for those only 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 to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.

 If a sick person who received this anointing recovers his health, he or she can in the case of another grave 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.

"Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters 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." (James 5:14-15)

The Anointing of the Sick is a prayer of healing and the forgiveness of sin, not only for our physical healing, but also for spiritual health, and for the strength, peace, and courage to bear the burden of illness.

As Catholics, we are asked to see our sufferings as a way of being united with the sufferings of Christ.

The Anointing of the Sick also imparts the forgiveness of sins, and therefore can only be administered by a priest or bishop.

To schedule the celebration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, please call our parish office at 713-692-6303.