*The following is a transcript of Father James Kubicki's Daily Reflection for Wednesay, February 3,2010:

Blessing of Throats
Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus, which is also known as Candlemas Day - because the candles that are used in our worship are traditionally blessed then. And today, a day when we honor an early Church martyr named Blaise, we take some of those candles and use them to bless throats.
Hello, I'm Father James Kubicki, and I suspect you're familiar with the story behind this tradition. At one point in the Holy Bishop Blaise's life (some say while he was being hauled off to prison) a woman came running up to him imploring his help. Her son was choking on a fishbone that was lodged in his throat. Bishop Blaise answered her plea, stopped and offer a prayer for the boy and he was immediately cured.
As a result, the tradition developed of blessing throats on his feast day with the newly blessed candles from the Feast of the Presentation.
While it might seem odd that to have a day on which we bless throats and not one for blessing backs, knees, hearts, stomachs... The blessing prayer that's used actually covers all those bases as well.
Obviously, God is concern about more than just our throats. He's concerned about all of us, our entire body and especially our soul. But why doesn't God show that concern by healing us everytime we ask?
That's a mystery! And all we can say that looking at the big picture, God must have some reason for saying 'No' to our requests. Just the way He said, 'No' to His Son, when He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane.
But, let's not give up praying and let's pray that Saint Blaise blessing prayer right now:
"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."
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FATHER JAMES KUBICKI IS THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER.
FOR PRAYER RESOURCES AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER, PLEASE VISIT:
www.apostleshipofprayer.org
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