March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day – we celebrate mostly with parties, pretending to be Irish for the day, wearing green (and decking EVERYTHING we can in the color), and overall just having fun together.
But, you know what gets lost a lot of the time in the mix of St. Paddy’s Day? The work of St. Patrick himself.
Originally from Great Britain, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates when he was a teenager. He was sold into slavery and kept livestock over the next six years. In his confessions, Patrick writes of how his time spent as a slave in Ireland (roughly between the ages of 16 and 22) were vital to his spiritual life. It was while a slave in Ireland that the Lord called him to faith and he became a true Christian.
Patrick would sense the Lord calling him to flee his master and board a ship bound for Great Britain. Upon returning home, Patrick would reunite with his family and then go on to study in Europe and would be ordained as a missionary at Auxerre by St. Germanus. It was during his time spent in studies that he would feel the Lord leading him back to Ireland, to work to spread the gospel among those he had served as a slave.
There are numerous legends about St. Patrick – from his walking stick turning into a living tree to how he banished all of the snakes from the island of Ireland to how he used the shamrock (three leaf clover) to explain the mystery of the Trinity to his converts. What we do know about Patrick is that he took seriously the Lord’s calling to return to those who had enslaved him, to reach all he could with the gospel (peasants and the wealthy, alike), and to begin planting churches and establishing priests throughout the country of Ireland.
Regardless what celebrations you may take part in, today, take time to thank God for how he calls his people to continue to reach out with the gospel – to go to the hard places, to lovingly witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ, to be beacons of hope and love in a world that is mired in darkness. Praise God for those who have gone before us and have been a light to so many. Ask the Lord how you might continue to reach the nations, from wherever you are to the furthest reaches of the globe.
And continue, above all things, to preach the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ, through your words and how you live your life!