The Church’s pastoral care of the sick is a continuation of Christ’s ministry. As the introduction to the Pastoral Care of the Sick tells us, “The concern that Christ showed for the bodily and spiritual welfare of those who are ill is continued by the Church in its ministry to the sick. This ministry is the common responsibility of all Christians, who should visit the sick, remember them in prayer, and celebrate the sacraments with them.” (#43) In this way, the faith of the sick person is strengthened as the sick are encouraged to unite themselves with the sufferings of Christ. It is only in this union and identification with Jesus that we can begin to find hope and comfort in the midst of human illness.

In addition, the Church carries out an important ministry of praying for the sick at our communal worship. It is commonplace for us to hear names of the sick announced in the general intercessions at Sunday and weekday Mass, for example; and we should see this as a sign not only that we are lifting up the sick in prayer to God, but also that the body of Christ at prayer continues to be one with the members who are sick, particularly those who are too ill to attend worship.

All the rituals for ministering to the sick come from the ritual book “Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum.” All those who minister to the sick use this book according to the rites they are leading; the book is not only for priests. The first basic ritual for ministering to the sick is a simple visit to the sick with prayer. Those who visit the sick should help them to pray with the word of God, to which psalms or other prayers or litanies could be added. These prayerful visits can even be seen as preparations for a future visit that would include the reception of holy Communion.

This very simple ritual is drawn primarily from Scrip-ture and follows a common pattern of reading, response, prayer and blessing. Thus, there is a reading of one or more passages from Scripture, followed by a psalm, which may be prayed responsorially, as at Mass. Next, the Lord’s Prayer is prayed, followed by a concluding prayer. We should not overlook the power and necessity of a prayerful ritual such as this simply because of its simplicity. It is extremely important to pray with the sick often, even outside of sacramental moments, and this ritual structure brings the prayer of the Church to the sick. We should not lose our rich tradition of being able to pray even when holy Communion or the Sacrament of Anointing are not being administered. These visits may be led by a priest, deacon or lay person.

Next, there is the rite for Communion of the sick. As the introduction to the “Pastoral Care of the Sick” tells us, “Because the sick are prevented from celebrating the Eucharist with the rest of the community, the most important visits are those during which they receive holy Communion. In receiving the body and blood of Christ, the sick are united sacramentally to the Lord and are reunited with the Eucharistic community from which illness has separated them.” (#51)

In fact, the introduction goes on to say that the faithful who are ill are actually “deprived of their rightful and accustomed place in the Eucharistic community.” (#73) As such, the minister who brings communion represents Christ and is extending faith and charity on behalf of the whole Christian community, which shows its support and concern through this ministry. Moreover, there is an intimate link between Communion of the sick and Sunday, the Lord’s Day. There is a special appropriateness and significance to bringing Communion to the sick directly from the celebration of Mass, with a formal and public dismissal of the ministers. In this way, the unity between the community and its sick members is highlighted.

The rite for bringing Communion to the sick follows one of two forms. “Communion in Ordinary Circumstances” follows the ritual pattern of a word service, comprised of introductory rites, a liturgy of the Word, a liturgy of holy Communion, and finally a concluding rite. It is important for ministers to use this ritual in administering holy Commun-ion to the sick outside Mass. Communion should not be distributed as part of other services such as the rosary or Scripture sharing groups or other devotions. In addition, holy Communion should never be given out simply preceded solely by an Our Father or, even worse, simply the formula of “the Body of Christ.” These are not our rituals to do with as we please; they are the Church’s rituals.

The rite for “Communion in a hospital or institution” is a shorter rite that should be used when the full rite as just described cannot be used because of the setting of a hospital or institution or because of the condition of the sick person. Again, this is the ritual that should be used, and it should not be abbreviated; the rite of Communion of the sick should never be diminished to the absolute minimum.