St. Patrick’s Day is this Friday, and it seems everyone is gearing up for the usual festivities of parades, parties, green beer, and the dying of waterways to match. But after singing in church and then reading St. Patrick’s poem of faith and trust in God, The Breastplate, I knew there was more to the man than most of us realize. The section of the poem (below) we sing in church is really quite beautiful. The depth and magnitude of what it says always makes me cry.
“Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ inquired, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.”
St Patrick, born in Britain in the 5th century, came from a Christian family where his father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. Early on, he had no interest in religion. But at the age of sixteen when he was kidnapped by the Irish and taken to Ireland to serve as a slave for six years, his attention turned to God. At first, he thought he was getting what he deserved—that God was chastising him—but over time, through prayer and many trials, he came to know God as his protector and Jesus through the sufferings he himself was facing. Through God’s providence, though, Patrick was able to escape. Returning to his family, he began studying for the ministry. ¹
But God wasn’t finished with Patrick’s connection to Ireland just yet. Through two different dreams, Patrick felt he was being called to go back. ² This time to bring the Good News of the Gospel.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine what he must have thought? In Patrick’s memoir, The Confession, he tells of his time as a slave. Knowing what he lived through then—the many trials—I can only conjecture what must have rolled through his head, what he grappled with. I know for a certainty you would have found me on my knees asking God, “Did I hear You right? Am I remembering this dream correctly? Are you sure You want me to do this?”
The forgiveness involved to go back to what Patrick escaped, floors me. It’s one thing to forgive someone for the everyday—for being human, because we all fail each other a hundred times over—but to come face-to-face with the memory of your former enslavement, to pass landmarks and possibly even the people who inflicted that pain, has churned up so many questions in my heart about my willingness to do what God has asked, to obey.
To answer you honestly, I’m afraid my first whining thought would land at, “I don’t want to do that.” Or sadly, maybe it would even be, “Run!” But that frame of mind would hopefully last only for a few seconds, for I know where that landed Jonah. In the belly of a fish. A humongous one. For three, less-than-fun-filled, days.
But what I really pray would happen is, after a little bit of wrestling, I would be at the feet of Jesus asking forgiveness for my selfishness and for grace to face the impossible. And the only reason I could/can do that is because two thousand years ago, He was before His Father God asking for the strength to do the impossible, the strength to go to the cross, to take on the sin of mankind, to face death and separation from God—the ultimate hell—all that, so we wouldn’t have to. His last words on the cross were, “It is finished.” And it is, for when we ask Him to save us, He puts in us His righteousness, His nature, and His grace. It is only by that we are able to overcome.
I’m so glad we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades and turning rivers and waterways the lush green of Ireland. For in doing so, maybe more and more will come to know Patrick’s true story, of how Jesus saves and in that will find the keys of God’s grace to face the impossible.
Happy St. Patty’s Day,
With love,
Kimberly
¹ Kithcart, David. “Patricius: The True Story Of St. Patrick”. CBN.com (beta). N.p., 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
² Kithcart, David. “Patricius: The True Story Of St. Patrick”. CBN.com (beta). N.p., 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
