Unction (Part 2)

Picture the priest standing before a parishioner, holding the small vial of oil in one hand, lifting the other to trace a cross on their forehead. This is a moment charged with meaning, where the priest’s actions embody the Church’s ministry of healing and restoration. The priest, in this act, becomes a vessel of grace, an intermediary between the finite and the infinite, offering not just oil but the touch of divine care. Through the philosophical insights of Paul Ricoeur, Richard Kearney, and Mark Johnson, the experience of the priest in anointing emerges as an embodied, relational, and deeply formational act.

Paul Ricoeur’s concept of narrative identity illuminates how the priest’s actions are shaped by their participation in the larger story of Christ’s healing work. In lifting the oil and offering prayer, the priest steps into a role that is not their own but is given by the Church, rooted in the ministry of Jesus who anointed the sick and laid hands on the broken. This act is not a mere ritual performance but an act of attestation—a proclamation, through the body, that God’s healing presence is real and active. For the priest, anointing is a moment of alignment with the narrative of salvation, a recognition that their hands and voice are instruments within the ongoing story of God’s redemptive love. Each gesture and word becomes an embodied testimony to this sacred calling.

Richard Kearney’s carnal hermeneutics draws attention to the physical and relational dimensions of the priest’s experience. The priest does not simply anoint with oil; they touch, they feel, they engage with the parishioner’s embodied vulnerability. The coolness of the oil on the fingers, the warmth of the parishioner’s skin, the weight of the silence or whispered prayer—all of these sensory elements draw the priest into an encounter that is profoundly incarnational. Kearney would emphasize the tactile reality of the priest’s role: their body becomes a medium of grace, their hands an extension of Christ’s healing touch. In this moment, the priest is not abstractly praying for healing but physically enacting it, embodying the Church’s care in the material and sensuous act of anointing. The priest’s own vulnerability is also present here, as they step into the sacred mystery of offering something they themselves cannot control—the grace and healing of God.

Mark Johnson’s work on embodied cognition highlights how the priest’s repeated actions in anointing shape their understanding of their vocation and the sacrament. For Johnson, meaning is not detached from the body but arises through the interplay of physical experience and conceptual thought. The priest’s actions—dipping their fingers in oil, tracing the sign of the cross, whispering the words of prayer—become a liturgical grammar, teaching them about the nature of God’s healing through the movements of their own body. Over time, these embodied practices create a muscle memory of grace, forming the priest’s understanding of their role as a minister of healing. The weight of the oil, the precision of the gesture, and the proximity to the parishioner are not incidental; they are integral to how the priest learns and embodies the sacrament’s meaning.

Ethically, the act of anointing also carries profound implications for the priest. Ricoeur’s emphasis on otherness reminds us that the priest’s role is inherently relational, oriented toward the parishioner who comes forward in need. The priest’s hands, extended in service, reflect a posture of humility and care, where their actions are not for themselves but for the other. Kearney’s focus on vulnerability reinforces this, as the priest engages directly with the parishioner’s brokenness and pain. To anoint is to enter into a shared space of fragility, where the priest’s touch becomes a gesture of solidarity and hope. This relational dynamic forms the priest as much as it serves the parishioner, reminding them that their ministry is grounded in mutual dependence and shared humanity.

Ultimately, the priest’s experience of anointing a parishioner with oil is an act of profound embodiment, where theology, relationality, and sensory engagement converge. The priest’s body becomes a site of mediation, a channel through which the grace of God is extended to the parishioner. Each movement—the lifting of the oil, the tracing of the cross, the whisper of prayer—is charged with meaning, drawing the priest into the sacred mystery of Christ’s healing presence. This is not a role of control or authority but one of servanthood and vulnerability, where the priest’s own body and actions are shaped by the liturgical drama they enact. In anointing, the priest encounters not only the parishioner but also the transformative reality of their own vocation, as they embody the Church’s ministry of healing and reflect the care of the divine.