Memorial of St. Patrick

By Tim Trainor

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032021.cfm
Jeremiah 11:18-20
John 7:40-53

Today is the Memorial of Saint Patrick, Bishop and Patron Saint Of Ireland. I would like to tie him into my Reflection on our Gospel reading, from John 7: 40-53.

Let begin with some background on Patrick. He was kidnapped from the British mainland around age 16, and shipped to Ireland as a slave. After six years as a shepherd, he had a dream in which he was commanded to return to Britain, and seeing it as a sign, he escaped. Patrick studied in monasteries, was ordained a Priest, and consecrated as a Bishop. Pope Celestine, who was Pope from 422 till 432, sent him to evangelize England, and then Ireland. Within 33 years he effectively converted Ireland. In the Middle Ages, Ireland became known as the Land of Saints, and during the Dark Ages, its monasteries were the great repositories of learning in Europe. Some of the Irish folklore on Saint Patrick includes the belief that he drove all the snakes from Ireland. But as few snakes were native to Ireland, this may be a metaphor for the conversion of the pagans there. One traditional image of this day is the shamrock. It comes from a tale of how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist as separate elements within the same overall entity.

Though originally a Catholic holy day, Saint Patrick's Day has evolved into more of a secular holiday. Saint Patrick's Day was first publicly celebrated in America in 1737, in Boston, Massachusetts.

St. Patrick is a patron saint of Ireland. Although many details of his life are shrouded in mystery and legend, it is clear that St. Patrick had a profound impact upon the people of Ireland. The Confessions of St. Patrick is the brief story of St. Patrick's life, told through his own eyes. The work provides an intriguing glance into one of history's best-known saints. The Confessions of St. Patrick is similar to St. Augustine's Confessions as they are more theological than autobiographical. It provides a stirring account of the miraculous ways that God worked in Patrick's life and encourages readers of it into a life of courage and holiness.

I would like now to read some excerpts from his Confession so you can catch a glimpse of this guy in his own words. The first few paragraphs of his Confession begin: 

“I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a priest, of the settlement there; who had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive from. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of others. All of us deserved this slavery because [here he quotes scripture] 'we had turned away from God, and did not keep His commandments. Nor, were we obedient to our priests who used to encourage us to do those things necessary for our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth [the wilds of western Ireland], where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.

And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, so that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and 'turn with all my heart to the Lord my God', who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and 'he protected me and consoled me as a father would his son'.

But after I reached Ireland I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and my faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.
And it was there of course that one night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me: ‘You do well to fast: soon you will depart for your home country.’ And again, a very short time later, there was a voice prophesying: ‘Behold, your ship is ready.’

And it was not close by, but, as it happened, two hundred miles away, where I had never been nor knew any person. And shortly thereafter I turned about and fled from the man with whom I had been for six years, and I came, by the power of God who directed my route to advantage (and I was afraid of nothing) until I reached that ship.

And after a few years, I was again in Britain with my parents [kinsfolk], and they welcomed me as a son, and asked me, in faith, that after the great tribulations I had endured I should not go anywhere else away from them. And, later on, there, in a vision one night, I saw a man whose name was Victor coming as if from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: ‘The Voice of the Irish’; and as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest which is near the western sea of Ireland, and they were crying as if with one voice: ‘We beg you, Holy Boy, that you shall come and walk again among us again.’ And I was stung intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke. And - thanks be to God, that after so many years have passed - the Lord bestowed on them according to their cry.

I testify in truthfulness and gladness of heart before God and His holy angels that I NEVER had any reason, except the Gospel and his promises, ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with great difficulty. “

He then goes on to say in his Confession that he returned to Ireland because of the 'Voice of the Irish' plus the scripture passages: 'This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached throughout the whole world as a witness to all nations; and then the end of the world shall come.’ And likewise the Lord foretells through the prophet: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days (said the Lord) that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams …' and Patrick realized that this was exactly what was happening to him!

He, therefore, returned to Ireland and went on to fearlessly preach and established Churches there for 30 plus years while daily expecting to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery again.

He was able to do this he said, “Because of the promises of Heaven; for which I have cast myself into the hands of Almighty God, who reigns everywhere. As the prophet says: ‘Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you.' “

He ends with - “But I entreat those of you 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. And this is my confession before I die.”

Now onward to the Gospel reading from John where we will be looking for linkages to Saint Patrick's life and mission.
Our Gospel passage is a little unusual in that Jesus does not appear in it directly; instead, John concentrates on the reaction of those whom Jesus speaks to and calls. What impression does he make on them? What response do people have?

It is the guards who are key here: "No man has ever spoken like that before." The guards have met Jesus personally and have listened to what he was saying to them rather than relying on their orders or their preconceptions, and they have come to at least the beginning of belief. They have listened, they have grown – their lives have been changed!

Meanwhile – the Pharisees dig in deeper as highlighted in verse 43: “So a division occurred in the crowd because of him” and in verse 47 they say: “Surely you have not been deceived too, have you?”

I believe that God, the Father, asked Jesus to come into this world to bring us life, grace, and wisdom. It was His mission to lead us to the kingdom of Heaven. Patrick, I believe, was called by God to participate in the work. One of the best indirect proofs that Jesus truly is God – (I believe) is that He understands our stupidity and tolerates it! – and – continues in His teaching efforts to get us to adopt at least some sort of a rudimentary spiritual way of life while we are here on earth.

One would imagine that Jesus must have sometimes thought of this world in the vein expressed by George Bernard Shaw (surprise – an Irish Playwright) – who once said, “From the actions of humankind it seems to me as if this particular planet of ours must be the insane asylum for some other world.”

Jesus told them many Truths, but they refused to believe any. His adversaries manufactured various religious reasons why He was wrong. Humankind is an undisciplined class even the world’s great religious teachers (like the Pharisees) fall victim to this error. The passage ends with all the participants angrily going to their own separate houses. How much better it would have been having they all gone to the Lord’s house and talked to God and each other, thus resolving their indifference (like where was Jesus from/born: Bethlehem not Galilee) through mutual discussion, but that was not to be!

Remember that the temple police were impressed by Jesus’ words and did not arrest him.
Let's stay focused on them and what they said: "No man has ever spoken like that before."
To which the Pharisees contemptuously retorted that only the unlearned crowd believed in Jesus – DO NOT MISS THE POINT- that's Us – You and I (the unlearned crowd from Galilee and later Ireland)!

To me – they sadly missed the voice which, I believe, both Patrick and the Guards heard!

That was the source of Patrick's rock-solid Faith and Strength which has flowed down to change we the 'unlearned crowd' since then who have been positively impacted by Irish Catholic Religious plus Other - like motivated HOLY Individuals God has called to the mission field such as Patrick [recall, that the Voice of the Irish had addressed him as 'Holy Boy']!

I would like to close with a homework type of question:

Why do you believe as you now believe? Is there someone you should reconnect with who was responsible for helping you establish and/or grow in your faith? Or, perhaps offer 'Prayers of Thanks' for, during Lent to people whom God has placed in your life (or maybe an ancestor's life) who has delivered or helped you hear a message like “No man has ever spoken so to you before" as the Guards and Saint Patrick experienced?

Please consider undertaking this assignment as part of your Lenten activities of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as you prepare for Easter.