“Blessing of the Hands” — honoring nurses
An Order for Anointing of Hands for Parish Nurses and Health Ministers
By the Rev. David L. Schriber, OSL
Call to Praise:
One: God created us in love to be children of the Holy, and whole.
Many: Praise to God our Creator, who crafted us in the divine image.
One: Christ came to embrace our suffering and to redeem our affliction unto
life more abundant.
Many: Praise to God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician of our souls and bodies.
One: God’s breath inspires our life;
God’s Spirit joins the healing energy in all of us.
Many: Praise to God the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.
Responsive Psalm verse: Psalm 90:17
One: May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us:
Many: Establish the work of our hands for us –
One: Yes, establish the work of our hands.
Blessing of Oil:
One: The Lord be with you.
Many: And also with you.
One: It is right and good, always and everywhere, to give You thanks and praise, Lord God, for
all Your gifts of healing:
for the waters of creation and the dust of the earth ...
for the Image of God upon us and the breath of life within us ...
for the skills of those who serve in healing & helping professions ...
for the gifts of science and medicine ...
for the healing presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, by his touch, his word, his offering of himself...
for the ministry of healing entrusted to us in the Body of Christ, the church.
Yahweh Rafa, God our Healer, in Jesus Christ you raise up the sick and mend the broken. Grateful for
your many healing gifts, we offer to your glory this oil of anointing. Bless its use with your Holy Spirit
that it may be to us a symbol of your presence and a reminder of our mission to be Christ-bearers to
bring peace and healing to others. Amen.
Invitation to Anointing:
A noted figure in the ministry of healing and wholeness, Fr. Ralph DiOrio, in his book Called to Heal,
eloquently commends God’s gifts of healing through medical professions: “God has created, out of
the abundance of His healing compassion, men and women acute and dexterous in their perception,
scrutiny, diagnosis, and prognosis of … afflictions. Blessed are the hands of those men and women called to minister to the wounds of afflicted humanity."
We invite all — whether you make direct or indirect contact with health care receivers — to come
forward for an anointing of the hands. When you touch someone, your touch is the touch of the
compassionate Christ reaching out to comfort and to heal. When your hands operate equipment,
they are an extension of divine wisdom to discern and to heal. When your hands play music, they
bring us into communion with the healing spirit of God.
This anointing is a tangible sign of the Holy Spirit's healing presence in your life, an affirmation of
your vocation as an instrument of God's healing, and a symbol of God's blessing upon the work you
do.
Anointing of Hands:
Blessed are the hands of those called to minister to the afflicted.
[Officiant anoints both palms with oil in the sign of the cross then joins hands palm-to-palm in a
gesture of peace.]
Namaste, shalom, salam; go in peace.
Music for Meditation:
Hands that make each day begin again and bring to light our distant dream …
We have but one more chance in this the hour of our new life to heal the wounds which times does
bring, which time does bring.
We ask you, Lord, for healing and you share the certain caring of each other’s hands.
Reaching out and touching; are you there to offer smile or eyes or tear?
This moment filled with trust can make us whole, yes if we will.
The touch of hands such healing brings, such healing brings.
Br. Gregory Norbet, OSB (Weston Priory, 1973)
The Word: Acts 5:11-12 NEB
A great awe fell upon the whole church ...
Many remarkable and wonderful things took place at the hands of the apostles.
Benediction:
One: May the Lord accomplish remarkable and wonderful things through your hands.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Many: Thanks be to God.
Permission granted for use with attribution to author, the
Rev. David L. Schriber, OSL
(International Order of St. Luke the Physician)
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