Icon of Patrick from stpatrickrocor.com |
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.
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