When someone is bed-ridden, homebound, or in the hospital, the priest will make a "sick call" to ensure the person receives the Eucharist -- an especially important duty around Easter time (the priest will hear Confession if necessary). In cases of possible death, he will offer Extreme Unction (in such a situation, call the priest as soon as possible, day or night!). Unction is a separate Sacrament that includes what follows below and also an annointing with Oleum Infirmorum (the Oil of the Sick).

For a regular sick call (i.e., one that doesn't include Unction), call your priest and, when he comes, remember that he will be bringing the Blessed Sacrament, the very Body of Christ (the vessel that contains the Eucharist when the priest is traveling is called a "pyx"). Because of the Presence of the Lord in the Eucharist, men should remove any headcoverings, and women should cover their heads. To prepare the sick room:  

• Set up a table near the bed in a place where the sick person can see it, and cover it with a white cloth.
  
  
• Place on the table the crucifix with a lit blessed candle on each side, a dish of holy water, a piece of palm (if you have some) that the priest can use to spinkle the holy water, and a small dish of regular water. Some families include a small bell that the priest or sick person rings after Confession is complete (if Confession is received) to summon the family back into the room.
  
  
• Lay a linen cloth across the breast of the sick person.  

When the Priest arrives, meet him in silence at the door while carrying a lit blessed candle, genuflect, and lead him to the sickroom. Kneel, and stay with him and the sick one, offering your prayers, but do leave the room if Confession is to be heard, closing the door behind you. When the priest opens the door again, or rings the bell that some families include with their sick call sets, you may re-enter.

It is good to have a sick call set all ready in your family altar so in case of need you can just grab it. Crucifixes that hang on the wall, but then open up to reveal two small candles and a vial of holy water, and which can be set up on a table can be purchased from Catholic gift shops under the name "sick call sets," but you can make your own. What you'll need:

• small white tablecloth
• 2 blessed candles
• standing crucifix
• holy water
• small dish for regular water (so priest can rinse fingertips when offering the Blessed Sacrament)
  
• small dish for regular salt (to absorb oil from priest's fingertips after offering Unction when that Sacrament is called for)
  
• linen cloth (so priest can dry fingers)
  
• piece of palm from Palm Sunday (optional)
• small bell (optional but nice to have)
• a lovely, sturdy box to hold all these items with dignity and keep them ready
  

The Ritual

Other helps for the sick

Other means of helping the sick include:  

• the use of St. Benedict Medals and Crucifixes, and the Blessing of St. Maurus
• the very old folk custom of blessing the sick with ashes saved from the bonfire made on the Eve of the Feast of St. John the Baptist (24 June)
• the use of "the Love of St. John" -- wine blessed by a priest on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist (27 December)
• giving the sick sips of holy water or other curative waters (such as from holy wells), or having them bathe in curative waters such as at Lourdes
• using blessed salt in their food
• The Litany of the Sick or other litanies
  
• giving to the sick foods with herbs blessed on the Feast of the Assumption
• use of the Oil of Saints, such as that exuded by St. Walburga's relics
• Good Friday eggs for aches and pains (per Irish folk custom)
  
• the use of St. Brigid's mantle (Bratgog Bride) to cure headaches and sore throats, and for help in childbirth (per Irish folk custom)
• the very old popular custom of using Hot Cross Buns, eaten on Good Friday, to help the sick
• the lighting of candles as a votive offering
• asking intercession from the Saints below through simple prayers (such as this Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes for a Sick Person) or novenas
• invoking the Fourteen Holy Helpers as a group
  
  

 
A bit of Trivia

Almost all cultures have some ritually offered words for someone who sneezes -- the ancient Greeks, the American Indians, the rabbinical Jews, Asians, etc. Many of these groups (Talmudic Jews included) believed that sneezes could be mortal, that the soul could leave the body through the mouth during a sneeze. It is Pope St. Gregory the Great, however, whom we have to thank for the practice of saying "God bless you" after someone sneezes. He was Pope during a time when Rome was ravaged by a certain pestilence, the symptoms of which were sneezing and yawning. In A.D. 600, he decreed that when someone sneezes, one should respond with "God bless you" to ask God's blessings for the person's health, and that when a person yawns, the Sign of the Cross should be made on his mouth.