Chapter 20 - EXTREME UNCTION
This is the last of the seven sacraments, also known as The Last Rites, and given a more modern name by Vatican II - The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. This new designation was aimed at bringing it more in line with the verse of scripture claimed as its basis James 5:14.
While intended to prepare a Roman Catholic for his final voyage into the unknown (the focus points being the actual anointing and reception of "Holy Viaticum" - Holy Communion as preparation for a journey), in reality it used to be a source of great concern to a sick Roman Catholic.
While lying on his bed, fully conscious (the Sacrament can be best administered to those fully conscious), preparations would be made by covering the windows with sheets and drawing the blinds. The priest would then enter the room, without a cheery greeting usually given to sick folks being visited and would, in the words of Alex Dunlap, begin muttering Latin phrases "unintelligible even to Julius Caesar." Various parts of the body would be anointed with the oil of the sick (which had been specifically blessed to make it more effective), sin would be confessed and absolved and the Holy Viaticum would be administered.
The Roman Catholic, who by now knows that he is being prepared to die, would be prepared for that journey - or would he? In his book, Purgatory, Priest Dwyer lists the various spiritual exercises of a Roman Catholic which he engages in during life. He states that, is he does all these and receives Extreme Unction, "in good dispositions", he might go straight to Heaven. Even after the last Sacrament is received, there is no guarantee. The Apostle Paul spoke of being absent from the body and present with the Lord, i.e., going straight to Heaven and he based this assurance on God's revealed full and free justification (Romans 5:1).
The scriptural basis for this sacrament has always generally been James 5:14,15. The Council of Trent said this Sacrament was instituted by Christ in Mark 6:13 and confirmed by James in his fifth chapter.
Of course there is no link between these passages at all - the anointing of the sick in Mark was in the course of the ministry of the preaching of repentance by the twelve, and Jesus is talking about believers calling church elders for prayer in the case of sickness. The instance James spoke of has nothing to do with sacrament of Extreme Unction, for James does not say, "Let the sick person's family call for the priest, and let him anoint him while saying Latin prayers, and these prayers will prepare him for death." The whole Roman Catholic ceremony is a blasphemous caricature which cannot save and doesn't even pretend to be able to.
Today's Roman Catholics may argue that the more modern rite does allow for the possibility of healing, but that does not alter the basic and classic Roman Catholic understanding of Extreme Unction - an anointing to prepare for death.
As Christians, we have the joy and responsibility of preaching the Gospel to our Roman Catholic friends, for only in receiving Christ as Saviour will they be prepared for the journey they must take after death. He is the perfect Saviour, and must be contrasted with all the sacramental inventions of Romanism which never guarantee a completed salvation and, with all their supposed accomplishments added together, still present a less-than-infinite salvation; hence, a salvation that will never do for eternity.