Dogs and Tricks

Learning to cherish traditions and customs of faith

02/03/2025

Mark 16:15-20 Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: "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." So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

Yesterday I discovered that you are never too old to learn something new. Apollo smiled and said to me: “I guess old dogs can learn new tricks!” As you know, yesterday, February 2, was the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas. That is because people often bring candles to church to be blessed that day. They light the candles during storms to remind them that Jesus is present, in all the storms of their life.

Now, do you know how to say “Candlemas” in Spanish? It is “Candelaria.” Here is the Eureka moment for me. We have a deacon in our parish whose name is “Candelario” which is the masculine form of the word “Candelaria,” And do you know when Dc. Candelario’s birthday is? You guessed it: February 2, the feast of Candelaria or Candlemas. We have a deacon in our parish named Dc. Candlemas! I have been in this parish for 11 years and I just learned that. Old dog, new trick.

But there is also an intimate connection between yesterday’s feast of the Presentation, or Candlemas, and today’s feast of St. Blaise. The candles we blessed yesterday are used in blessing people’s throats today. Even though we blessed throats yesterday, I will also bless throats after Mass this morning, in case anyone missed it yesterday, or wants to be blessed on the actual feast of St. Blaise.

This connection between candles and cures can also be seen between the palms of Palm Sunday and the ashes of Ash Wednesday. People typically bring their dried palm branches to church in the weeks preceding Ash Wednesday to have them burned. Why? So they can become the ashes we place on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday.

We find yet another beautiful connection between brides and baptisms similar to the candles and palm branches. Even though it is uncommon today, in the past brides would cut off some material from their long wedding dress, usually the long train. From that white wedding dress they would sew the baptismal gowns for their babies.

Now, that was not just a practical consideration in order not to waste good material; there was also present a clear theological symbolism. When a baby is baptized it is sacramentally incorporated into the Church, which is the Bride of Christ. What better way to signify that a baby becomes a bride than by dressing it up in a wedding gown?

And that, too, is why the baptismal dress – which by the way boys and girls alike wear – is usually 20 sizes too big for the baby! Sometimes the baby gets lost in the dress and we can't find him for two days. It is supposed to mimic the wedding dress, which, when you include the train, is way oversized for the poor bride. Our faith is so rich, but we lose touch with that wealth when we forget our traditions and customs and feel instead that whatever is the latest must be the greatest.

And some of the latest stuff is pretty great. Still, we often suffer from a kind of chronological snobbery by which we look down our noses at our predecessors and the past and believe we moderns are obviously more enlightened. In some ways we are smarter, but in the most important matters, like faith and culture and morality, we are not. We are just new dogs trying to learn their old tricks.

Today’s gospel from Mark 16:15-20, the conclusion of the second gospel, gives us the scriptural basis of today’s feast of St. Blaise. The last line of the gospel reads: “But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.” The reason we bless throats on the feast of St. Blaise is because as a bishop Blaise preached the gospel and one day healed a small boy who had a fish bone caught in his throat.

That healing was the “accompanying sign” that the Lord worked to underscore Bishop Blaise’s words of preaching. Always remember: we don’t come to have our throats blessed because we think the candles possess some magical curative powers. We come to have our throats blessed because we believe we have a loving Savior who desires our health and happiness. Our faith is not in the candles, our faith is in Christ. And faith in Christ is the only trick that any dog – new or old – needs to learn.

Praised be Jesus Christ!