Fr. Chuck's Column, January 31, 2021

 Since last March, we have been improvising our litur-gy to meet the demands of the safety precautions for the pandemic. And we are not yet finished making changes, accommodations, and exceptions. Every week seems to bring a new wrinkle.

This week the challenge is the Feast of St. Blaise and the tradi-tional blessing of throats. Tuesday is Candlemas Day, a tradition-al day for blessing of candles. The following day is the Feast of St. Blaise, and the candles are used to bless throats.

St. Blaise was both a medical doctor and a bishop. He was bishop of Sebastea, which is now Silvas, and is a city in central Turkey. In the year 316, during a persecution of Christians, Blaise was arrested by the Governor of Lesser Armenia, a man named Agric-ola. On the way to prison a woman laid her infant, who was chok-ing on a fish bone, before the bishop. Blaise blessed and cured the child. While this amazed the Governor, he still had St. Blaise beaten and killed. At least, so goes the legend.

Since then St. Blaise has become popular among Catholics for healing of diseases of the throat. And traditionally, on his feast day, Catholics receive a blessing of their throats that includes using blessed candles. The priest or minister holds the candles on the person’s throat and prays: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, may God deliver you from ailments of the throat and from every other evil.” And the person responds, “Amen.”

But this year, due to the requirements of social distancing and wearing masks, we will not be doing individual blessing of throats. Instead, as instructed by the Vatican and the Diocese, a priest at the altar, without holding candles, will bless everyone in the congregation at once. And those watching virtually will also be prayed for and blessed.

For those who like the familiarity of the old rituals, tying us to our youth and early adulthood, this will certainly be a disappoint-ment. But given the risks involved, especially with the new, more transmissible variants of the virus, this makes very good sense. Hopefully, next year we will go back to the old-fashioned feel of candles on our throats, and will be glad for the normalcy of it all. Meanwhile, we need the blessing and intercession of St. Blaise more than ever.