247. Viaticum

Viaticum

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 247

Ave Maria series

247  What is meant by “Viaticum”?

Viaticum means the last Holy Communion that a person received before dying.  [1524-1525]

Roman Catholic chaplain, Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O’Callahan, administering the last rites (viaticum) to an injured crewman aboard USS Franklin, after the ship was set afire by a Japanese air attack, March 19, 1945.…..245

Rarely is Communion so vitally necessary as in the moment when a person sets out on the path that completes his earthly life: In the future he will have only as much life as he has in union with God.

“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:54

The word viaticum is a Latin word meaning "provisions for a journey," from via, or "way." The Eucharist is seen as the ideal spiritual food to strengthen a dying person for the journey from this world to life after death.

[1524-1525]

VIATICUM, THE LAST SACRAMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN

1524 In addition to the Anointing of the Sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist as viaticum. Communion in the body and blood of Christ, received at this moment of "passing over" to the Father, has a particular significance and importance. It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection, according to the words of the Lord: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."(John 6:54.)¹⁴¹ The sacrament of Christ once dead and now risen, the Eucharist is here the sacrament of passing over from death to life, from this world to the Father.(Compare John 13:1.)¹⁴²–Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1525 Thus, just as the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist form a unity called "the sacraments of Christian initiation," so too it can be said that Penance, the Anointing of the Sick and the Eucharist as viaticum constitute at the end of Christian life "the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland" or the sacraments that complete the earthly pilgrimage. –CCC

Sacrament  Viaticum  Last Rites

I am posting this for Tuesday. We have to leave very early to attend a Mass for my sister Loreley which is being said in a distant church a few hours from here.