A History of Anointing

February 6, 2025 // Memorial of Saints Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s First Reading/Psalm/Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

Reflect on the Word //

The newly ordained bishop greeted me at the youth event I was speaking at, and I joyfully asked him, “Do you still smell like oil?” He laughed and said, “Probably! They sure doused me with it!” Do you love the smell of holy oils as much as I do? What a gift it is as Catholics to have symbols like oil that make tangible the work of Jesus—even more of a gift is when we can go back to Scripture and see our Sacraments alive in the Gospels.   

In today’s Gospel, we find the Twelve anointing with oil after being sent out by Jesus: “The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them” (Mark 6:13). 

Sit for a moment within this scene today, entering prayerfully into Israel in Jesus’ time. Join the Twelve on their missionary journeys, watching them anoint people with oil, watching people being healed, watching an early form of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick we hold sacred today. Imagine the smell of the oils. See the hope in the midst of suffering on the faces of the ones being anointed. Take a moment to meditate on the beauty of our Church, that the work carried out by the Twelve is still being carried out today by priests and bishops. There are men who have been anointed with oil themselves in ordination who are in homes, hospitals, churches, and more anointing others today, in this very moment, the very way Jesus taught. 

Our sacramental life today echoes what Jesus showed the Twelve to do, and it is a beautiful thing to stop and meditate on the gift that it is to be a Catholic, to have seven Sacraments that have brought a richness and depth to our lives of faith for thousands of years. 

Relate to the Lord // Thank God for the gift of the Sacraments!