Holy Wednesday - This Isn't Magic
As we approach the Divine Mystery of Unction, we are invited to embrace God in loving communion and see our healing as being connected with Him Who IS our life.
On this Holy Wednesday:
Let us pray to the Lord,
Holy King, compassionate and very merciful, Lord Jesus Christ, the Son and Logos of the living God, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they should turn and live, it is not I who lay my sinful hand on the heads of these people who have come to You as sinners and who seek the forgiveness of their sins from You through me; but I pray that You extend to Your servants Your mighty and powerful hand, which is in this holy Gospel Book. And I pray and implore Your most sympathetic and forgiving benevolence, O God our Savior, who through Your prophet Nathan granted David the forgiveness of his sins when he repented, and who accepted the penitential prayer of Manasseh. Please accept these, Your servants who repent of their transgressions, and overlook all their offenses, in Your characteristic benevolence. For You are our God, who said to forgive those who fall into sin, even seventy times seven, because as Your majesty is, so is Your mercy. And all glory, honor, and worship belong to You and Your Father who is without beginning and Your all-holy Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen
This is the Prayer of Forgiveness, which is prayed over the people as we approach the Divine Mystery of Holy Unction, which heals our souls and bodies. The priest says this prayer over the people as he holds the Gospel Book over their heads.
What a powerful icon of the true purpose of healing!
This isn’t just the temporary restoration of physical health but the genuine healing of our deepest illnesses in our souls!
Look at our Gospel Lesson today in Matthew 26:6-16:
When Jesus was at Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
All too often, we are tempted by magical thinking and think that if we go and get the “magic” oil, God is somehow obligated to make us feel better. But this reduction of the divine mystery of Holy Unction can never rise to the lofty reality of the mystery of the Church.
This shallow thinking leaves us in poverty, makes betrayal of our Lord and His Church possible in our hearts, and leads us to give a “kiss as did Judas” and betray our faith for the fool’s gold of temporary riches!
The truth is, all the divine mysteries of the Church do only one thing!
From the Eucharist to Marriage, Ordination, Baptism, Unction, Christmation, Confession, and all the other ways God communicates His grace to us, these divine mysteries accomplish one necessary task!
They bring us into intimate communion with God Who IS our Healing, our Life, our Salvation, our only true Lover, and our greatest Treasure! The mysteries of the Church bring us closer to God, and it is this closeness, this intimate connection with God, that heals, saves, and gives life to us as we participate in the life of the Church.
TODAY we receive Him Who is our healing in the mystery of holy oil. This isn’t some “magic” formula or rite performed by the tribal medicine man to make your headache disappear. This is nothing less than being brought close to Him Whose footsteps in the Garden struck fear in the hearts of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed. But now we are able, by the grace of God, to once again intimately walk with Him in His kingdom and bask in the spiritual riches that make us wealthy beyond measure!
As you approach the Holy Oil today, rejoice that God Himself comes to you to heal all your diseases, especially the ones in your hearts. Blessed Holy Wednesday to you! Finish well!
P.S. Though I have outdone the harlot in sin, yet I have offered You no shower of tears. Rather, I fall before You fervently kissing Your spotless feet, praying silently that, as Master, You will remit my debts as I cry: "Savior, free me from the foulness of my deeds!" Kondakion for Holy Wednesday
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouraged
I wish non-Orthodox Christians could participate.
Thanks for this one. This is a powerful reminder that the mysteries of the Church are not magic but mercy—God’s descent into the fragile vessels of oil, water, bread, and breath. As I reflect in Desert and Fire, healing is not the removal of suffering but the presence of God within it. Holy Unction does not bypass our wounds; it anoints them. Like the woman with the alabaster jar, we are invited to draw near—not to fix ourselves, but to be poured out and filled in return. Christ is our healing not because He spares us the cross, but because He passes through it with us. Blessed Holy Wednesday indeed.