Saint for Our Time

Arguably one of the most famous saints of our time, with his own parade, is Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick, the “Apostle of Ireland,” was a missionary to Ireland, and he helped convert Pagan Ireland to Catholicism.  Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain, and kidnapped when he was fourteen years old. He was sent to Ireland to work as a slave, as a shepherd, he began to turn to God as a way of escape. Saint Patrick wrote "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain." Prayer became Saint Patrick’s lifeline. When he turned twenty, he had a dream that told him to go to the coast of Ireland so that he could escape. The escape was successful and Saint Patrick was reunited with his family. However, after a few years, Saint Patrick had another dream which he felt called him to go back to Ireland and be a missionary to them. Saint Patrick decided to become a priest and when he was ordained bishop he travelled to Ireland. In Ireland, he began his work as a missionary. Saint Patrick converted many Irishmen, but he also gained many influential enemies in the process. One legend states that when Saint Patrick lit the Paschal fire and celebrated the Easter mysteries in Tara, he greatly angered the Druids because they had a rule that no one cold light a fire until the Chief Druid kindled the sacred fire. The Druids then devised a plan to kill Saint Patrick, since he had broken that rule. They gave him a cupful of poison ale; however, Saint Patrick blessed the goblet with the words, “In nomine Dei Patris," turning over the goblet, the poison alone fell out of it in front of all the Druids and guests. Saint Patrick’s trust in God was so great that death did not scare him. Additionally, one of Saint Patrick’s most famous quotes is his prayer the “Breastplate,” “Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.” Saint Patrick teaches us to have faith in God’s plan for our lives. Saint Patrick put his own life in risk to follow God’s call for him to be a missionary. Let us also trust in God even when the path seems to be impossible. Saint Patrick, pray for us that we will be able to follow God’s voice in our own lives, Amen.

View My Catholic Family Magazine Easter Issue at: http://online.anyflip.com/zywc/fnmd/mobile/index.html#p=1