“Through the intercession of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, may the Lord deliver us from every disease of the throat and every other illness”. The throat is of particular importance to the Christian, isn’t it? It is by the use of our throats we lift up verbal words of praise and honor to God, we sing sweet hymns of praise, we offer cries of repentance. It is by use of the throat that we are faithful to the Lord’s command to proclaim his Gospel of salvation and teach the nations in the ways of Christian discipleship. It is by use of our throats that we utter those most important phrases in any language, “thank you”, “I’m sorry”, “I love you”.
So it is good to ask the intercession of St. Blaise for the deliverance of our throats from physical afflictions. So that we can use our throats in the ways God intends.
For we know all too well, how our throats can be misused, don’t we? We can use our throats to utter phrases like “I hate you”, “I’ll never forgive you”. We can use our words to hurt, to blame, to curse, to, to betray, to spread rumors, to humiliate, to bully.
More important than physical healing then, is the importance of turning to God’s grace, and to the intercession of God’s saints to deliver us from spiritual disease, the tendency to sin, to misuse the things God has given us.
In the Gospel we heard how John used his voice to preach the Word of God, he bore witness to the moral truth of God’s law. For this he was hated and martyred, Yet, Jesus himself pointed to the example of John, “There is no one greater than John the Baptist” he said, for John labored and died proclaiming the truth that comes from God.
May each of us aspire to such greatness, such fidelity, and such right use of our faculties, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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