Today is the first of the three feasts of the Savior celebrated in August, and this feast has traditionally been a day for the blessing of freshly collected honey. There is a practical reason for this: August is the beginning of the harvest season, and the fruits of the harvest are blessed on various days throughout the month. But there is also a mystical connection: Samson found a lion’s carcass filled with honey (Jdg. 14:9), and from the Body of Christ, broken on the Cross, the honey-sweet sacraments of salvation flow forth for the world. In the words of Samson’s riddle, “out of the Strong came forth sweetness” (Jdg. 14:14).
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