“Thus I give untiring thanks to God who kept me faithful in the day of my temptation, so that today I may confidently over my soul as a living sacrifice for Christ my Lord; who am I, Lord? or, rather, what is my calling? that you appeared to me in so great a divine quality, so that today among the barbarians I might constantly exalt and magnify your name in whatever place I should be, and not only in good fortune, but even in affliction? So that whatever befalls me, be it good or bad, I should accept it equally, and give thanks always to God who revealed to me that I might trust in him, implicitly and forever, and who will encourage me so that, ignorant, and in the last days, I may dare to undertake so devout and so wonderful a work; so that I might imitate one of those whom, once, long ago, the Lord already pre-ordained to be heralds of his Gospel to witness to all peoples to the ends of the earth. So are we seeing, and so it is fulfilled; behold, we are witnesses because the Gospel has been preached as far as the places beyond which no man lives.”
-The Confession of Saint Patrick
Today is the seventeenth of March. I may call it John Deere Day, but the man for whom this holiday was named stands for more than green and shamrocks.
As Saint Patrick wrote in his Confession, “I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing.”
Shamrocks and leprauchans and rainbows might not be Saint Patrick’s idea of a faithful witness. But maybe the celebrations of this day will cause a few to turn back the pages of history and find out what this man stood for.
“Saint Patrick didn’t chase the snakes out of Ireland, as many believe,” writes Chuck Colson in a BreakPoint commentary. “Instead, the Lord used him to bring into Ireland a sturdy faith in the one true God – and to forever transform the Irish people.”
“But I entreat those who believe in and fear God, whoever deigns to examine or receive this document composed by the obviously unlearned sinner Patrick in Ireland, that nobody shall ever ascribe to my ignorance any trivial thing that I achieved or may have expounded that was pleasing to God, but accept and truly believe that it would have been the gift of God.”
Gretchen
A random redhead who loves the Lord, her farmer husband, their curly-haired little ones, reading, writing, pictures, and chocolate.
I’m very glad to know those little bits of info, for I’ve never actually looked into St. Patrick himself!
Hey, you can read “The True Story of Patrick” by David Bercot. I found it very interesting.
It is so great to see you honoring a great saint of the Christian faith! Thank you-
One of my favorites from this hero is a part of a “morning prayer” attributed to him, if I may-
“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 in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.”