Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

The saint we celebrate this week, St. Patrick, was born in Britain in what is now Scotland, under the rule of Rome in 387 AD. At 14 he was captured by Irish pirates and enslaved in Ireland where he served as a shepherd until he was 20. At the time, Christianity had not spread to Ireland. When Patrick escaped and returned to Britain, he had a vision of returning to help the Irish people seek God. Patrick trained to become a priest and then returned to Ireland to help the Irish people seek God in the form of Christianity.

St. Patrick is celebrated around the world as the patron saint of Ireland. A famous prayer of his, which we are told was written in 433 AD, has portions that are probably recognizable to many. If you search for the “breastplate prayer of St. Patrick,” you can find the whole prayer. My favorite portion is as follows:

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

We often see St. Patrick pictured with a shamrock. The shamrock has three leaves (unlike the four-leaf clover that we in the US often associate with St. Patrick’s Day). He used this plant to explain the Trinity: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. St. Patrick spent 40 years in Ireland, converting the population and teaching about the faith.

What must it have been like for Patrick to return to the country in which he was enslaved and to serve God’s people there for the rest of his life? How can we take on the dedication of a saint like Patrick in our service to others? Can we repeat the words of St. Patrick’s prayer, always seeking God, always asking Christ to be with us? It’s a good Lenten practice.

Blessed Angela: “Without obedience and love of neighbor our good deeds mean nothing.”