Remembering "Saint" Patrick

Icon of Patrick from stpatrickrocor.com

Unlike St. Valentine, the saint we remember every March 17th was a real person in history. However, not all the legends about Patrick are true—for instance, there were never any snakes in Ireland for him to drive out. Also, Patrick has never been officially canonized, so he's not really a "Saint" with a capital S. He was a remarkable person nonetheless, returning as a missionary to the island where he had been previously enslaved for six years. By 405 AD he was not the first missionary to arrive in Ireland, but his ministry was the first to make much of an impact there. His mission strategy was carried on for centuries to come; by converting the influential leaders in society, he trusted that their influence would then cause people of lower social classes to follow.

St. Patrick's Day is more of a cultural celebration than a religious one. (We never marked it in 12 years of living in a Roman Catholic country. Not many Irish folks in the Philippines, I guess.) Here in the US we recognize the day by wearing green, but it is seldom an occasion for worship. Unless your church is named after Patrick, you probably will not do anything special in his memory as part of your service this Sunday.

Falling in mid-March, this holiday almost always coincides with Lent. This famous prayer by Patrick fits with John 3:1-17, a passage that comes up every few years during this season. It makes a great benediction:

Christ be with us, Christ before us, Christ behind us,

Christ in us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us,

Christ on our right, Christ on our left,

Christ where we lie, Christ where we sit, Christ where we arise,

Christ in the heart of every one who thinks of us,

Christ in every eye that sees us, 

Christ in every ear that hears us.

Salvation is of the Lord,

Salvation is of the Christ,

May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.