The wind was biting, the river Gave was ice-cold, and for fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous, the day began with a simple, desperate need: firewood to keep her family warm. She walked toward the shadow of the Massabielle grotto—a place the locals used for grazing animals and discarded trash. She had no idea that in this forgotten, silent corner of France, the veil between earth and heaven was about to be pulled back. What did a poor, uneducated girl see in that moment of stillness that would eventually draw millions of souls to the same spot?

Each year, on the third day of February, a quiet and striking ritual unfolds in Catholic churches throughout the world. The faithful approach the altar one by one. A priest raises two blessed candles, crossed gently against the throat, and speaks words that are at once ancient, tender, and bold in faith. This is the Blessing of Throats, given on the feast of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, patron saint of those suffering from ailments of the throat and of all who depend upon the fragile gift of voice.

Among the saints whom the Church recognizes as authentic mystical witnesses, St. Bridget of Sweden stands with singular clarity. A wife, mother, widow, and later a religious foundress, she lived in the fourteenth century and was granted profound revelations concerning the life, Passion, and interior sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as the sorrow and love of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her visions and locutions were carefully examined by ecclesiastical authority, and her Revelationes were received by the Church as trustworthy private revelations.

In many Filipino homes, the image of the Santo Niño is never far from view. Sometimes He stands quietly on a shelf or home altar, dressed in red and gold. Sometimes He is carried in joyful procession, lifted high above a sea of dancing feet. Always, He is loved—not as a distant symbol, but as a presence deeply woven into daily life.