The Sacrament of Anointing the Sick is meant not only for the patients. A pregnant woman also can seek this which can bring peace and healing to her. But at first, it may look like something strange for a woman to receive the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick when she’s preparing to give birth.
Pregnancy is not an illness. Birth is not a disease. So, why should we receive this sacrament before the perfectly natural, normal process of having a baby?
Giving birth is a perfectly natural process for women—but for some of us, it can be a bit complicated or even potentially dangerous.
In the United States, more than 17 women out of 100,000 die each year during pregnancy or childbirth. Many more have high-risk pregnancies and deliveries. For those of us who fall into the high-risk category, receiving the Anointing of the Sick brings immense spiritual healing and peace.
The Catechism tells us that Anointing of the Sick may be given during serious illness:
The Rite of Anointing tells us that there is no need to wait to receive the Sacrament until a person is at the point of death. A careful judgment about the serious nature of the illness is sufficient.
Priests say that receiving this sacrament made sense for my situation as I face high-risk births.
The effect of this sacrament and the grace received through it will be an enormous gift. While receiving the Sacrament, you can feel God’s warmth and peace in your soul. This reaction is exactly what the Church teaches us.
The Catechism says,
In the Church’s Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, through the ministry of the priest, it is Jesus who touches the sick to heal them from sin, and sometimes even from physical ailment. His/her cure will be sign of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. The core message of this healing is of His plan to conquer sin and death by his dying and rising.
When the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is administered, the hoped-for effect is, if it is God’s will, the person be physically healed of illness. But even if there is no physical healing, the primary effect of the Sacrament is a spiritual healing by which the sick person receives the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace and courage to deal with the difficulties that accompany serious illness or the frailty of old age.
Evidently, all women who prepare to give birth can follow this practice.