Woke up last week with a mild sore throat and a memory leaped into my consciousness as I tried the old gargle with salt trick. Saint Blaise is the patron saint of sore throats ,and the Church has an actual ceremony where congregants come and kneel at the altar and have their throats blessed. The ceremony revolves around the priest placing two candles on the person’s throat, and saying a prescribed prayer invoking the saint’s help. I was at one end of the altar saying the proper prayer and my buddy Jack Murphy was at the other end.As we proceeded we would get close to each other and meet in the middle of the communion rail.As I approached Jack I heard the following”May the bunny rabbit bless your throat ” I was stunned and he turned and looked at me with that innocent Irish face and said”never did learn the Saint Blaise prayer”.With that he turned and I and others could barely hear”may the bunny rabbit bless your throat.” The memory of that wonderful moment made my throat less scratchy.