Eucharist and Last Rites I
The Eucharist is the Last Sacrament when taken as Viaticum (a word that means: ‘provision for the journey’). Viaticum means the presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist is united to the body, heart, mind and soul of the mortally ill to help them journey from this life into eternity. It is here that we need to consider the wider context of how the Church helps those who are dying; what is traditionally called The Last Rites.
Throughout our lives we experience numerous challenges to our faith, our hope and our charity which now comes to a climax in those who are dying.
Indeed, all those challenges we have undergone have had little deaths in them which in a profound way prepares us for the final death - little jumps that prepare us for the big jump out of this world into the next, out of time into eternity!
All those past challenges also bring to the fore what we really believe about reality as they ask of us: what is really real and what is not?
What endures and what passes away? Who or what is our foundation? Is evil real or an illusion? Is the world a broken system that can be fixed or is it a fallen world that needs to be saved? Is there really sin that I need to repent of or is injustice caused just by others? Do I recognise my injustice to others?? What did I do to deserve this? Is it just tough luck or is there something else going on here in this trial, this tribulation, this suffering?
Now the Church defines death as when the soul leaves the body and not just when the heart stops, the brain flatlines and breathing has ceased. So it is the Church alone which offers the dying that Final Initiation, an initiation into eternity, through the Sacrament of Confession, the Apostolic Pardon, Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as Viaticum:
Confession helps the soul to face the reality of sins in their life, sins that are covered by the blood of the lamb when the soul is truly sorry for all their sins.
Apostolic Pardon follows this true contrition for sin and is given only at this time by a priest. The Apostolic Pardon offers the soul deliverance of all temporal punishments for repented sins.
Sacrament of the sick unites the soul to the healing power of the cross and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus. Here the dying comes to know that the Lord is truly the Good Shepherd who leads them through the valley of death.
The Sacrament of the Eucharist as Viaticum prepares both soul and body to make that final giving away of self to enter eternity through the Spirit of Faith, Hope and Charity in the God who is our Heavenly Father. He invites us to trust Him through his Son so that we may be taken to our final home. The Eucharist truly is the seed of the resurrection for the dying.
Thus it is that the soul is brought into, or is kept in, the state of sanctifying grace by which it overcomes both the fear of death and the temptation to despair of God’s mercy when the enemy besieges the soul with past sins. By the Sacraments and the spiritual weapons of prayer, a soul is also able to make that final self-offering of their pain and suffering as a penance for sin. In so doing, the soul is united to the Cross of Jesus, especially when using words like “Jesus I trust in You”, or “Jesus, Mary and Joseph assist me in my last agony.” The Last Rites are the Final Initiation we will undergo in this world. They initiate and enable souls into a turning away from this world, even their loved ones, and turn towards God and so to depart in peace to God. Indeed, their loved ones have a duty to help them, by cooperating with all that is required for the Last Initiation of their loved ones, to go in peace to God.
The real purpose of the Last Rites is to bring about a Holy death where the soul departs as a friend of God and not as an enemy of God. Though that soul may not be a saint when he or she dies, due to the lack of penance for sins in their lives, they have been transfigured by this Final Initiation into being friends of God. It is in Purgatory that God will make them saints fit for Heaven!