As some of you may know, today (February 3) was the Feast of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr. It's the day after the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (a.k.a. Candlemas), and they use the candles they blessed on Candlemas to give the traditional blessing of the throats on the Feast of St. Blaise.
One observation I had while working in the university chapel at a Catholic college was that the Feast of St. Blaise was one of our best attended Mass days. The campus always had 3 well-attended daily Masses, but on the Feast of St. Blaise, the place was packed! Almost as packed as it was on Ash Wednesday. Which was always particularly funny to me because, while neither one of these days is a Holy Day of Obligation, both of them involved getting 'stuff.' Sure, you can receive the body and blood of Christ at any old Mass, but you can only get throat blessings and ashes once a year! What can I say -- we Catholics are sometimes a strange people. :)
Anyway, here's a link to read a little bit about St. Blaise:
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1280
And a prayer request for a beautiful little 6-year-old girl named Blaise who has a very serious illness. I have been asking soon-to-be-Blessed Pope John Paul II for another miracle for her through his intercession, in addition to pulling in the prayers of her namesake on this, his special day.
“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” (Blessing of St. Blaise).
Peace and all good,
Leslie
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