Bulletin Reflection - 4 February 2024

Right before Christmas, the secular media was reporting about the types of blessings that priests are able to give to the faithful.  You can imagine that as a priest, I give blessings to people on all different occasions and for all different reasons. This weekend, Catholics from all around the world receive a special blessings of the throats in honor of St Blaise, an Bishop who served in Armenia in the 4th Century.  Through the Tradition of the Church, it has been passed down that Blaise was a physician before he was elected as Bishop and that he died in 316 AD in the persecutions of Christians by the Emperor Licinius of the Eastern Roman Empire.  While Blaise was hiding before he was captured and put to death, a legend states that a mother pleaded for Blaise to cure her son who was dying from a fish bone lodged in his throat. Blaise prayed over the boy, and the child was healed.  From this legend comes the blessing of the throats that we celebrate today.  Blaise became a popular saint in the Middle Ages.  As early as the 9th century, his intercession was invoked for ailments of the throat. By the 15th century, the ritual of the throat blessing in his name was being practiced in the Church. With great faith, we Catholics remember St Blaise this weekend as we receive this blessing of the throats.  Father Lincoln.