I have recently been researching the 1983 USA adaptation of the Anointing of the Sick, published as Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum Approved for use in the Dioceses of the United States of America by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and Confirmed by the Apostolic See (New York: Catholic Book Publishers, 1983). (On a personal note, part of my interest in this liturgical book is that it was canonically approved by the [then] National Conference of Catholic Bishops when the Archbishop who ordained me to the presbyterate, John R. Roach, served as president of the Conference.)
Chapter Four of the 1983 edition offers three formats for the Anointing of the Sick: 1) Anointing outside Mass; 2) Anointing within Mass; and 3) Anointing in a Hospital or Institution. While I suspect that Anointing outside Mass remains the most common practice for celebrating this sacrament, a significant number of communities also celebrate sacramental anointing in the context of Mass. If I am reading the information provided in the “Foreword” to the document correctly, the proper Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer provided for use at an anointing Mass was newly composed for the USA edition. I believe this prayer is a welcome addition to the Church’s euchology both for its theological insights and for the beauty of its prose:
Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks,
for you have revealed to us
in Christ the healer
your unfailing power and steadfast compassion.
In the splendor of his rising
your Son conquered suffering and death
and bequeathed to us his promise
of a new and glorious world
where no bodily pain will afflict us
and no anguish of spirit.
Through your gift of the Spirit,
you bless us, even now,
with comfort and healing,
strength and hope,
forgiveness and peace.
In this supreme sacrament of your love
you give us the risen body of your Son:
a pattern of what we shall become
when he returns again at the end of time.
In gladness and joy
we unite with the angels and saints
in the great canticle of creation,
as we say (sing):
I hope that when a new edition of the Rites of Anointing and Viaticum is published this text will be lightly modified to conform to the translation patterns for the Prefaces appearing in the 2011 English translation of the third edition of the post-Vatican II Roman Missal. It seems to me that the protocol needs no modification, the second sentence might be modified slightly to “no anguish of spirit burden our hearts” (or something similar) for the sake of euphony, and the eschatocol might replace “as we say (sing)” with “as without end we acclaim.”
I also hope that the English-language Prefaces appearing in the 1992 Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary might also be modified in similar ways to enrich our Roman Rite euchology, but that might would be a topic for a future blog post.