The Second Vatican Council placed the sacrament once again in the context of mutual prayer and concern described in the Epistle of James. Anointing "is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death" but is intended for all those who are seriously ill. Consequently, what we formerly called "Extreme Unction" is now more properly called "The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick."

More has changed than the sacrament's name. Our experience of the revised sacrament of  Anointing has brought about a change in the way we think about the sacrament.

For an increasing number of Catholics the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick takes the form of a parish gathered for Sunday Eucharist, a Mass of Healing, with 30 or so people—some visibly ill, some apparently perfectly healthy—coming up the aisle to be anointed, some with their spouses or caregivers.

The public, communal sacrament is the sacrament celebrated to its fullest. One of the general principles of the Council's renewal of Catholic worship states: "Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations belonging to the Church....and are to be preferred, as far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and, so to speak, private."

The Anointing of the Sick, like all sacraments, is an act of faith; it graces the whole person—body, soul and spirit. The blessing over the oil for annointing asks God to "send the power of Your Holy Spirit, the Consoler, into this precious oil. Make this oil a remedy for all who are anointed with it; heal them in body, in soul and in spirit, and deliver them from every affliction."