Everybody’s going Green these days. What is Green, anyway? Green is the color of nature. We want to preserve nature. Its even become a political issue. Big business has for two centuries destroyed the Green in this country to provide Green in their wallets. Now that third world countries are getting into the industrial revolution, we cry ‘foul’ and try to stop them from the same wasteful practices that America has used to build our financial empire.
Saint Patrick had little to do with American Green, but we seem to celebrate this day as the wearing of the green. There will be parades and celebrations including everything from green tea to green gravy. Yet few have any idea of who Saint Patrick really was or what he accomplished.
Living in a day when the Catholic Church was the only church, St. Patrick worked within the established system and converted an entire lost culture to Christianity. He did this to fulfill a vow he had taken to honor God with his life in repayment for the deliverance he received from the very people he was determined to reach.
Saint Patrick is one of my favorite heroes of the faith. When I wear green today, I will be remembering this great saint and attempt to walk in his footsteps.
Tags: greed, green, St. Patrick
One of my favorite stories gleaned from my genealogy research is about one of my direct ancestors from the early days of America. Mary Hobson was born and raised in a coastal village in Ireland. Raids by British Pirates were common and her parents were killed in one such raid and she was taken to America where she was sold as a slave (yep, that happened back then). After serving an early American family for many years she was given her freedom to marry.
Her husband was not a Christian but she was devout in her Catholic faith. Her first official act in their new frontier home was to set up an altar in the log cabin where she prayed routinely. Her fervent Catholic faith led to the founding of the first Catholic church in that part of the Allegheny Mountains. Although her husband never responded to faith in Christ, her children all became faithful supporters of local churches as they migrated westward, most Catholics, but some Protestants.
Her negative beginnings as a child never caused her to relinquish her faith in God. That’s an Irish example I want to follow. I’m wearing green today to honor my Irish g-g-g-g-g-?-grandmother.
Tags: faith, obstacles, St. Patrick, trouble
St. Patrick was a missionary to Ireland many centuries ago. He struggled to communicate the principle of the Holy Trinity with the pagans on the island. How could one God be three persons? they argued. Exasperated, Patrick studied the ground with his eyes, searching for an answer. His eyes then fell on a shamrock, which he picked up and held before them.
The shamrock had three leaves, but was really one. He used this shamrock as an object lesson. Three parts, yet one. God was three parts (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), yet one God. Although each part of the godhead was distinct, each with its own purpose and role, they all complemented one another, and worked toward a common goal.
The shamrock has since become a symbol of St. Patrick, but few know why. Now you know the rest of the story. How have you heard the Trinity explained?
Tags: shamrock, St. Patrick, trinity
Another of my heroes of the faith is St. Patrick. Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I always try to wear green. Although I have Irish ancestry (my ancestors had such Irish names as Carnahan, Gillespie, McNabb, Hobson, and Mackey), St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. Patrick was taken prisoner as a child by raiding Irish pirates from his English home. Sold into slavery, he had a hard life. He prayed and told God that if He would deliver him, he would serve Him the rest of his life. He then found an opportunity to stowaway on a departing ship. The ship was destined for France, and Patrick arrived safe, and immediately entered a monastery to become a priest, keeping his word to God.
Patrick was not the best student, and when the pope sent out a plea for missionaries to go to rugged Ireland, Patrick immediately sensed God was leading him to go back. But the religious leaders were convinced that Patrick’s grades were not good enough for him to carry out such an endeavor and denied him. However, when none of the other priests volunteered to go, they reluctantly approved Patrick as the candidate. The rest is history.
Patrick becomes a hero because he went back to those who had put him in bondage and offered them grace. Isn’t that exactly what Christ did for us? No one had a passion for the wild Irish like he who had been there. Wear green today in honor of St. Patrick.
Tags: grace, hero, missionary, St. Patrick
One of my heroes of the faith is St. Patrick. There are many true stories about him and there are many legends. One story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king’s foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king’s forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, “I thought it was part of the ritual.”
Whether this story is true or merely legend, it illustrates the truth that sometimes we have to put up with pain as the Lord develops and purifies us. Hang onto your faith and never, never, never give up.
Tags: pain, patience, St. Patrick