Backhanded Blessing

Seeing how Jesus heals and helps us today

04/02/2025

John 4:43-54 At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.” The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While the man was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live. He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, “The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.” The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he and his whole household came to believe. Now this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the hospital to anoint Fr. Henry Mischowiuski. I was not sure what condition he would be in, so I was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting up in bed smiling and very alert. A friend, Helen Ann Whorton, was with him to keep him company, and in case Fr. Henry needed anything.

In fact, I had received several texts earlier Sunday from Julie Anderson and Jacqueline Phillips about Fr. Henry being in the hospital. Just like Jesus had a cadre of holy women that took care of his needs as he preached and healed and saved, so Fr. Henry has a gaggle of godly gals who take care of him so he can take care of others.

And I have to admit it is a very humbling thing to give the Anointing of the Sick to a brother priest, especially one as holy as Fr. Henry. Did you know he was a chaplain to Mother Teresa in Calcutta? If you close your eyes and listen to him, he sounds a lot like Mother Teresa.

So, I felt like John the Baptist when Jesus came to be baptized at the Jordan River. And I wanted to say, “Fr. Henry, it is I who should be anointed by you.” But like my patron saint, I did my duty, however humbling.

One thing I almost forgot about in anointing a priest – which Fr. Henry did not forget – was that a priest is not anointed on the palms of the hands, like lay people are. Rather he is anointed on the back of his hand. You might say it was a backhanded blessing. Can you guess why?

Helen Ann couldn’t guess either, so Fr. Henry told her: “A priest is already anointed on his palms on the day of his ordination.” In other words, on the day of a man’ ordination, the ordaining bishop smears Sacred Chrism on the palms of his hands. So that anointing at Mercy Hospital was not only a healing moment, it was also a teaching moment.

That way, when I impart a blessing I am not “firing blanks” but real bullets – real spiritual power shoots from my finger tips. And that spiritual/sacramental power has not diminished one drop even 29 years after my ordination nor has it for Fr. Henry. Indeed, that power grows more potent, especially in holy priests like Fr. Henry.

In the gospel today we see Jesus’ loving concern for the sick and how he heals them. Even though our Lord is a little perturbed because some people just want him to perform miracles like circus tricks, he still heals the royal official’s son on the verge of death.

And it is precisely Jesus’ desire for our health and wholeness that we priests communicate through the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick down the ages. In other words, when a priest comes to your home or visits you in the hospital, it is as if Jesus himself is coming to heal you.

I will never forget back in 2002, when I contracted viral meningitis and Archbishop Sartain came to anoint me at UAMS. That was when I learned about this backhanded blessing and priests being anointed on the back of the hand.

Now, after the anointing I did not jump out of the hospital bed and run home, miraculous cured. But I did feel great peace and I knew that Jesus was holding me in his arms, and that nothing could really harm or hurt me.

You know, it’s really sad how some people wait till their dying breath to call the priest for the Anointing of the Sick. It’s funny how every time I walk through the hospital halls I get those looks that seem to say, “Well, another poor bloke just bit the dust. There goes the Grim Reaper!”

And certainly priests should be present at the periculum mortis – the danger of death – but Jesus wants to be close to us at all the difficult moments of our life. Whether we are shouldering small crosses we barely feel, or large crosses that seem to crush us, Jesus loves us and wants to encourage us.

And Jesus imparts his divine power to heal and strengthen us both by a priest’s blessing and far more through a priest’s sacramental ministry of Anointing. And in that way every healing moment can turn into a teaching moment. And teaching itself is a uniquely powerful kind of healing.

Praised be Jesus Christ!