Ten hele gekeerd. De ziekenzalving als therapie en als sacrament

Abstract

After a description of the administration of the last sacraments, it is discussed from two perspectives, a therapeutic and a sacramental one. These two perspectives are distinguished on the basis of the semiotic concept of veridiction, the presentation of existence as (a kind of) truth. The truth of being ill, for example, can be presented in four different veridictions: a habitual, an illusionary, a therapeutic and a sacramental. The last sacraments seem to make sense both as a therapeutic and a sacramental act. As a therapy the last sacraments play a role in getting over a loss and feelings of guilt. In therapeutic perspective, in which the world is held to be changeable and people are held to be powerful, the ritual is an act of enforcement. But the last sacraments are in the first place sacraments: they show a mystery, hidden in this world, over which people have no power and to which people are to be converted. The sacraments confront this world with its own mystery and this often painful confrontation is not solved, but persisted. Through and in that perseverance a view of a way out is being offered. As the sacramental perspective is directed to a mystery over which we have no power, the last sacraments are an act of non-enforcement. And although we do not like the thought of being powerless, this act of non-enforcement is to be accepted as a challenge, that is, if we want to be healed.