By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
Faith in the Eucharist as the true and Real Presence of Christ is paramount in seeking salvation. Because the Lord gives Himself really, truly, and substantially in the Eucharist, the fullness of His healing power is also truly present in the Eucharist. Attending Mass and receiving the Lord with this understanding of faith is necessary for the believer in order to cooperate fully with the grace of God made available through Christ in the sacrament because grace builds on nature.
The natural powers of intellect and will must cooperate with grace so that God may do His work of healing. Christ made this clear in His teaching when He said as much to those who were healed in the course of His ministry.
A growing phenomenon of hybrid healing services which mix and sometimes simulate sacraments is working to encourage confusion about this paramount sacrament in which we receive Christ the Healer. Healing services, with use of oils and or laying on of hands which conflate these with the Mass, eucharistic adoration, and the use of the consecrated Host in the monstrance for healing purposes, are militating both against Catholic faith in the Holy Mass and in proper understanding of the gift of Christ in the Eucharist.
Some priests have already written letters to their bishops or chanceries with respect to and for the authentic healing given through the charismatic healing services in the Church while calling attention to a number of issues have caused some confusion in various aspects of healing ministry, especially in “Healing Masses” and other healing services of a liturgical nature.
This priest offers for our consideration the following issues and questions:
“Explicit permission? Does a pastor need the explicit permission to offer the so-called ‘Healing Masses’? ‘Healing Masses’ are understood as a Mass followed by prayers for healing conducted afterwards. In many cases such Masses followed by or including healing prayers are scheduled on a regular basis without explicit permission from dioceses.
“Use of oils: Can oil be blessed by a priest, then distributed/sold to the laity for the explicit purpose of encouraging the laity to pray over one another for healing?
“Lay ‘anointings’: Are the laity permitted to anoint other laity for the purpose of healing? If so what are the protocols and limits? How is a simulation of the Sacrament of the Sick to be avoided?
“Concerns for ‘sensationalism, theatricality, hysteria, or artificiality.’ The norms use this language to warn against this tendency in healing Masses. Does the ‘resting in the spirit’ phenomenon create in and of itself, a spirit of sensationalism, despite the numerous attempts to keep it without bounds of decorum? Does it violate our norms? If not are there certain limits to seek?
“Confusion of liturgical and non-liturgical services: Is a very free non-liturgical style of prayer, the laying on of hands by priests and anointing with oil, with ‘catchers’ assisting — permitted to be offered in the context of the liturgical exposition of the Blessed? Adoration, per se, is usually a quiet matter wherein one is encouraged to quietly adore the Lord and focus intently on His sacramental presence. However, when healing services are conducted in this context, the focus is more usually away from the Lord in the sacrament and more focused on those falling and resting.
“The use of the monstrance and Blessed Sacrament during the healing service. Can a priest use the monstrance in the way a relic might be used wherein he has one touch the monstrance or touches the monstrance to them for the purpose of healing — accompanied by charismatic words of knowledge, petition and glossolalia. May the priest or deacon travel about from one person to another in the church for this purpose? Secondarily can a priest or deacon stand over the kneeling/standing or sitting person seeking healing and pray silently (or with glossolalia and or an anointing with oil) with the laying on of hands in the context of the liturgy of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Exposed at the Altar?
“May excerpts of the prayers from the Rite of Major Exorcism be introduced into the Mass, say at the prayers of the faithful or the end of the homily?
“Does the book: Manual of Minor Exorcisms For the Use of Priests have canonical recognition? It is published by a bishop but there are puzzling inclusions in the book that seem to violate norms in place. Of particular significance is that the Rite of Major Exorcism is largely reproduced in a portion of the book, word for word, including the imprecatory and deprecatory prayers. It is not clear how an exorcism is minor when the same prayers of major exorcism are used. Perhaps the only distinction between major and minor exorcism is delegation and office? But this should be clarified, lest priests endanger themselves or others by reciting the prayers of major exorcism without proper delegation.
“Some of these listed practices are being introduced in varying degrees in healing Masses and liturgies that are currently taking place on a semi-regular basis. While not all these practices present equal issues or concerns, it may be necessary to ponder the issuance of guidelines with proper regard to Canon Law, Liturgical law and the Liturgical policies of a particular diocese.”
Healing services are usually treated in liturgical manuals and diocesan guidance under the subject matter of “Sacramentals and Popular Piety” because they are indeed separate in the practice of the Church from the liturgy and the Eucharist for dogmatic reasons. What follows is part of the guidance offered by a U.S. diocese for healing services:
“Prayers for healing are considered to be liturgical if they are part of the liturgical books approved by the Church’s competent authority; otherwise, they are non-liturgical.
“Those who direct healing services, whether liturgical or non-liturgical, are to strive to maintain a climate of peaceful devotion in the assembly and to exercise the necessary prudence if healings should take place among those present; when the celebration is over, any testimony can be collected with honesty and accuracy, and submitted to the proper ecclesiastical authority.
“In no instance may the non-ordained perform anointings either with the oil of the sick or any other oil.
“Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary, CDWDS, Letter to Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier, Conference of Bishops of South Africa, 1 September 2008: ‘It is reported that the faithful are frequently being anointed, during the course of what are called “Healing Services,” by deacons or even by lay ministers, who use the so-called “Oil of Gladness” that is claimed to be a Sacramental. This Dicastery observes that canon 1003, §1, expressly forbids anyone other than a priest to administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Furthermore, as the Inter-Dicasterial Instruction Ecclesiae de mysterio, art. 9, makes clear: “No other person [than a priest] may act as ordinary or extraordinary minister of the sacrament [of Anointing] since such constitutes simulation of a sacrament” (15 August 1997). This Congregation also observes that there are only three blessed oils used in the Roman Ritual, namely, the Oil of Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick, and Sacred Chrism. The use of any other oil or any other “anointing” must be considered proscribed and subject to ecclesiastical penalties (cf. canons 1379 and 1384)’.”
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