#12572 Are Catholic Blessings Superstitious? Bible Questions - Tim Staples

Catholic Answers Live

Catholic Answers

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are practices like the blessing of throats or cars just superstition, or do they have a deeper meaning in the Catholic faith? In this episode of Catholic Answers Live, Jimmy Akin addresses this question before tackling several others about Scripture and theology. He explains how to understand God’s role in events like the plagues of Egypt, whether the Garden of Eden can be seen as the first tabernacle, and when Satan’s fall occurred in relation to Adam and Eve. The episode also explores the apparent tension between faith and works in the Bible and offers guidance on how to approach questions about the “extra” books in the Catholic canon, including resources for understanding their historical and theological basis. A thoughtful discussion on Scripture, tradition, and Catholic practice.

Questions Covered:

01:02 – Opener: Is the blessing of throats and blessing of cars superstitious?
11:25 – How did God allow the plague in Egypt to happen?
17:22 – Was the Garden of Eden the first tabernacle?
20:02 – Did Satan fall before Adam and Eve?
29:23 – It seems like there is a contradiction in the Bible between Faith, and Faith + works. What resources can you offer about the 7 extra books in the bible? Something not from the Vatican to not be biased in favor of Catholics.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Buying or selling your home, real estate for life can connect you with a pro-life real estate agent.
0:05.8	When Real Estate for Life receives a referral fee, they donate 65% to Catholic Answers.
0:11.5	Learn more at realestateforlife.org. Welcome back, Katha Cancer's Live, Tim Staples, our guests.
0:31.9	When's the blessing of the throats?
0:33.1	Is that tomorrow?
0:33.9	Are we blessing the throats tomorrow?
0:34.9	That's a big day.
0:35.8	Yes, it is.
0:36.5	Blessing of the throats.
0:42.8	Amen. They take the candles to kind of make a little X over your throat and they give you the blessing of the throat. And I think it comes from St. Blaze. Bishop and
0:47.2	martyr. Bishop and martyr St. Blaze. All right. Perfect time of year for blessing of the
0:51.7	throats too because everybody's sick.
0:54.3	My whole house has been sick anyway.
0:57.1	Yeah, that's one of these things I love.
0:59.2	I know some people like, are they, oh, there's all these rituals in the Catholic Church.
1:03.4	It's just so, like this to me is like the tender care of God, everything taking care.
1:09.1	There's even a blessing of the throats.
1:10.4	You know, like, I love it about being Catholic. Amen. You know, and it's so richly biblical, isn't it?
1:17.2	I mean, the idea of... I didn't think of that, but... Yeah, the idea of blessings is so deeply rooted in sacred
1:23.7	scripture, but bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and all that is within me. I always say to
1:29.3	folks, if we can bless the Lord as Psalm 103 verses 1 and 2 talks about you can bless anything
1:36.5	and anyone, you know. That's a good point. You know, God bless you and bless is everywhere in
	...

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