Tomorrow, 3 February is the memorial of St. Blaise. St. Blaise was a martyr in the early fourth century. St. Blaise once saved a child from choking, so he is invoked as a patron saint for ailments of the throat. Throats are traditionally blessed on this day to call on St. Blaise to intercede for us and to strengthen us when we struggle with colds, sore throats, or other diseases of the throat. The blessing occurs when conjoined candles, blessed on 2 February, are placed around the side of the neck with the following words of blessing being prayed:
Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat, and from every other illness.
Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. This feast occurs forty days after Christmas. Recall that the number forty indicates a time of preparation such as the forty days of Lent that prepare us for the beauty of Easter and the Resurrection.
This feast is also known as Candlemas Day. On this day candles, recognizing the symbolic role they play in liturgies, are blessed for their use in church celebrations as well as for personal spiritual use. The prayer on this day is:
O God, true light, who create light eternal, spreading it far and wide, pour, we pray, into the hearts of the faithful the brilliance of perpetual light, so that all who are brightened in your holy temple by the splendor of these candles may happily reach the light of your glory.
While Jesus was presented in the Temple on this day and revealed as a light to the nations we too, at our baptism, receive light. A candle is illuminated, blessed, and shared accompanied by the following prayer:
Receive the light of Christ. Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly, so that your children, enlightened by Christ, may walk always as children of the light and, persevering in the faith, may run to meet the Lord when he comes with all the Saints in the heavenly court.
This candle is illuminated from the Paschal Candle, originally illuminated at the Easter Vigil, and is rejoiced at the Easter proclamation.
On this, your night of grace, O holy Father, accept this candle, a solemn offering, the work of bees and of your servants’ hands, an evening sacrifice of praise, the gift from your most holy Church. But now we know the praises of this pillar, which glowing fire ignites for God’s honor, a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious. Therefore, O Lord, we pray you that this candle, hallowed to the honor of your name, may persevere undimmed, to overcome the darkness of this night. Receive it as a pleasing fragrance, and let it mingle with the lights of heaven. May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: the one Morning Star that never sets, Christ your Son, who coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity.
The candle blessing of this day draws us into the blessing of the Light at Easter, a light that burns brightly within us through our baptism, and a light that we are called to carry confidently into a world eager to be illuminated.