Today we celebrate the memorial of Saint Blaise, a bishop and martyr in the early Church. In fact, he lived in the late third and early fourth century, and he was the bishop of Sebaste, a city in ancient Armenia, modern-day eastern Turkey. According to early Christian tradition, this martyr was originally a physician known both for medical skill and deep Christian faith. Before being chosen as a bishop during periods of persecution, Saint Blaise would withdraw to the mountains and the caves, and he lived a life of prayer and asceticism. Tradition says that wild animals gathered peacefully around him and that he would heal even those wounded among them, an image that later made him a patron saint of animals and veterinarians as well.
Saint Blaise was eventually arrested during the persecution of Christians under Licinius in the early fourth century, and while he was imprisoned, he continued to perform healings. The most famous episode recounts how he miraculously saved a child who was choking on a fishbone, which became central to his later veneration. When Saint Blaise refused to renounce his faith, he was tortured with iron combs, the same kinds of tools that were used to comb wool, and then he was beheaded around 316 A.D. Because of this, he is also the patron saint of woolcombers and textile workers. His steadfastness made him one of the most revered early martyrs of the Church.
The blessing of the throats developed from the early medieval period, rooted in the miracle of the choking child. By the eighth to the ninth centuries, Saint Blaise was widely invoked across Europe as a protector against throat illnesses and choking. The ritual blessing, using two candles crossed at the throat, became firmly established in the Roman liturgy by the Middle Ages and is traditionally celebrated today on February the 3rd, his feast day. The prayer asks that through Saint Blaise’s intercession, the faithful may be preserved from illnesses of the throat and from every other evil.
Of course, Saint Blaise receives this power to forgive sins and the power to heal, and every other power that comes from ordained ministry, through the same Lord whom he loved and served. And in fact, we hear Jesus in today’s Gospel from Mark commission the apostles to go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe in my name: they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages, they will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover” (Mk 16:15–18).
My brothers and sisters, let the Lord give you the strength and the power and the grace to heal. Yes, because there are many ways that one can heal. When we look after those who are struggling, when we reconcile with those who are angry at us, when we forgive, when we allow somebody out of the prison of shame and darkness and sadness, we too, like Saint Blaise, are allowing the Lord to work through us. Through the intercession of Saint Blaise and through the intercession of the Mother and the Queen of all martyrs, may Almighty God give you the strength and the courage to bear him witness and to speak boldly the truth that he inspires within your heart.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Go in peace, loving, serving, and thanking the Lord. Amen.
Add comment
Comments