#redemptive suffering
HOMILY for 2nd Tue per annum(II)
1 Samuel 16:1-13 ; Ps 88; Mark 2:23-28
The Lord chooses the youngest, the one who appears less strong than his older brothers:“Come, anoint him, for this is the one”, and at once the Holy Spirit fills David and remains with him. David is thus consecrated to the Lord, set apart for the Lord’s service, and empowered by God’s Spirit. Hence the psalm recounts the words of God: “‘I have found David my servant and with my holy oil anointed him. My hand shall always be with him and my arm shall make him strong.” For the Lord does not choose the one who is muscular and tall and strong, and who will thus rely on his own human might. Rather, the Lord chooses the one who is weaker, more vulnerable, and who thus knows his fundamental need of God, relying always on God to give him strength.
Hence, in Scripture, anointing with oil becomes a sign of consecration, of being set aside for God’s service, whether as a priest, or a prophet, or a king like David. The understanding is that in order to do God’s work, one needs to rely on God’s strength. As such, the act of anointing calls down God’s Holy Spirit to give his strength, grace, and gifts so that one can better carry out the service to which one is called. So, Samuel recounts that as soon as he anointed David, so “the spirit of the Lord seized on David and stayed with him from that day on.”
What is this Spirit of the Lord? St Paul says that “God did not give us a spirit of timidity [or fear] but a spirit of power and love and self-control. Do not be ashamed then of testifying to our Lord… but share in suffering for the gospel in the power of God”. The Spirit of God, therefore, empowers us to share in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the Gospel, as an act of proclaiming the good news that Christ has overcome sickness and death, and has risen from the grave.
It is in this light that we can think about our being anointed as Christians. The name Christian, incidentally, implies that we have been anointed, just as the title ‘Christ’ means “the anointed one”. For, when we think about it, when are we anointed? Firstly at our baptism and confirmation, by which we share in Christ’s priestly, prophetic, and royal dignity. Some of us are anointed again at Ordination, set aside for the Lord’s service as ministers of the Word of God and of the Sacraments. But, all of us are again anointed when we are seriously sick. So St James says that if a Christian is sick, he should call for the priest and “let him pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man.” (cf James 5:14-15) So, we must not neglect this Sacrament, not forget this anointing which we all must receive, for we all undergo times of physical suffering and illness. So, when we are admitted to hospital, or when we’re suffering from a serious illness, we must send for the priest to anoint us. As the Catechism says: “The Church believes and confesses that among the seven sacraments there is one especially intended to strengthen those who are being tried by illness, the Anointing of the Sick.” (CCC 1151)
For just as the Lord looked upon David in his weakness, and he said: “Come, anoint him, for this is the one”, so too, when we are sick and tried by suffering, the Lord in his mercy and compassion looks upon the sick Christian and he says: “Come, anoint him”! The effect of this sacramental anointing is that we are strengthened by the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit, who gives us his power, love, and self-control in place of fear and timidity. But the sick, when they are anointed, are also being consecrated, set aside for a special service. What is this? The sick and dying in fact share especially in the redemptive sufferings of Christ, and they are being anointed so that they can share in Christ’s patience on the Cross, and in his sacrificial death. So the Catechism says that the sick are united “to the passion of Christ, for his own good and that of the whole Church.” (CCC 1532) For as St Paul has said, in our own sufferings, we can “complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (cf Col 1:24)
The anointed sick, therefore, perform a priestly work, interceding for the Church with their own suffering bodies, offering a sacrifice of love to God just as Christ did upon the Cross, by patiently enduring all things in his body as a penance for sin, not just his own but the sins of the world, of other Christians. The sick is anointed, therefore, so that he might be like Christ Crucified, and, in his suffering, embrace the Saviour of us all. Hence Pope St John Paul II said: “Gradually, as the individual takes up his cross, spiritually uniting himself to the Cross of Christ, the salvific meaning of suffering is revealed before him… It is then that man finds in his suffering interior peace and even spiritual joy.”
Of course, many of us can look upon this and, if we look simply on the exterior, on what we can see, and if we look without faith, we see nothing but horrifying pain and suffering, and we wonder about the meaninglessness of sickness and death. But, “God does not see as man sees”, we’re told in Scripture today. Rather, God sees straight to the the heart – he fills the heart with his Holy Spirit of love, he heals the heart that has been broken by sin and this world’s deadliest sickness, by abiding in the hearts of those whom he has anointed with the Spirit of Christ.
So, one of my aunts, Dorothy, in Malaysia is currently undergoing her last days, dying of cancer. And I looked at a photo of her today and saw her weakness and faint smile, but her sister, an aunt who is a Protestant pastor, said to me yesterday: “She is good spiritually.” Ture enough, my aunt Dorothy wrote to me today: “A tough journey but with God all things are possible.” Yes, for the Lord has said to his servant: “My hand shall always be with you, and my arm shall make you strong.” Amen.
