Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Episode 3 - Year of my Mid Life


Episode 3
YEAR OF MY MID LIFE
- ADDING SAINT BLAISE TO TEAM MDJ
Even when this Catholic boy was too young for his First Holy Communion, he can remember lining up after Mass to receive a blessing of the throats on February 3rd of each year when the Church celebrated the Feast of St. Blaise.  Parents even brought their babes in arms to the local priest to receive a special annual blessing of the throats, asking for the intercession of St. Blaise. In this special ritual blessing, two candles are blessed and held slightly open and pressed against the throat while a blessing is pronounced.

“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

Whether or not a Catholic had a throat ailment on February 3rd  was not critical for receiving the special blessing because every good Catholic knew that we would most like need the intercession of the good saint in the upcoming months, especially since the feast day of the saint preceded the season of Lent and the consumption of more fish, especially the ones with the tiniest, sharpest bones. It also comes at a time in the midst of cold and flu season in this part of the world.


No faithful Catholic wanted to come down with a case of strep throat after February 3rd and have the fellow parishioners ask you if you had received the blessing of St. Blaise. Though getting this special blessing was never a guarantee that one was not going to get a throat ailment in the next 365 days, it was an indicator that someone other than ourselves could approach the Divine Healer on a regular basis and petition for special protection against any maladies of our throat.

Most Catholics are familiar with a story of a young boy who, with a fishbone stuck in his throat and near death, was brought to Saint Blaise who allegedly healed him. What some may be amazed to learn is that he is also considered the patron saint of wild animals primarily because of his treatment them and their maladies especially ailments of their throats. Like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Blaise was known to walk fearlessly with the wild animals living near the  cave where he fled to escape persecution as a 8th century Christian.

It is no wonder why this intercessor to the divine is a welcomed asset to the roster of Team MDJ in the “Year of My Mid Life”.