St. Patrick’s Day

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Today is St. Patrick’s Day.

Not to burst your bubble but St. Patrick wasn’t Irish – he was British. Catholicism came to Britain in the 2nd century and was well established there by the time of Patrick’s birth around 385. 

Even though St. Patrick’s father was a deacon, and his grandfather a married priest, he says that “I did not then believe in the living God, not even when I was a child.” Nor was he alone in this. Britain had grown comfortable and began to fall away from Christ.

Now here is a principle: Material comfort and complacency about our spiritual life always results in slavery to vice and sin. Spiritual slavery always ends in some form of physical slavery. The Israelites had to learn this lesson. But Christians tend to forget it.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Patrick and thousands of other Britons were captured by pirates and sent to Ireland as slaves. Later Patrick wrote, “We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved.”

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Prior to his capture and enslavement, Patrick, like many others lived a materially comfortable life that was spiritually dead.

The problem with living a comfortable life is that we think we have all we need, so we don’t need Jesus - so we don’t pray – we don’t spend time with Jesus in daily meditation.

But, if we don’t pray, then God cannot fill our soul and eventually everything feels empty. However, we don’t know what we lack so we double down in our effort to find happiness in everything but God.

We think we need more success, more entertainment, more travel, more experiences, a different spouse or another house…it’s an addiction.

Every addiction needs to be fed by more and more but satisfies less and less and the vicious cycle grows worse.

This is the sin of sloth which dominates our age.

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In his autobiography Patrick wrote:

“I remained in death and unbelief until I was reproved strongly, and actually brought low by hunger and nakedness daily… It was there that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognized my failings. So, I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance.”

Pride is the self-reliance that makes us think we have everything under control. We may believe in God, but we live as though we don’t really need him. That is why we spend so little time in prayer and too much time at work and entertainment.

If we continue this way, we will never be happy.

That is when God in his mercy allows us to experience some trial, some dark night that strips us of all we relied upon.

Patrick was stripped of everything when he was enslaved in Ireland for six years. That is when he turned to God.

A Dark Night can be almost any suffering that demonstrates the futility of self-reliance and opens the way to a greater faith and our purification. 

Again Patrick writes: “After I arrived in Ireland, I tended sheep every day, and I prayed frequently during the day. More and more the love of God increased, and my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same. I even remained in the woods and on the mountain, and I would rise to pray before dawn in snow and ice and rain.”

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Patrick’s physical slavery was a sign of his spiritual slavery.

Once he was set free from his vice and unbelief, then God delivered him from his physical slavery, he escaped Ireland, making it safely back home to Britain.

You might imagine that the story would end there. I mean, Patrick has learned his lesson. He has faith. He has a prayer life. He can just settle down and live a good life. But that is not what Patrick does.

He went back to pagan Ireland, where he would likely be captured and enslaved or martyred. He risks everything for the love of Christ and souls. However, in a very short time, by the power of God, Patrick converts all of Ireland to Christ.

Patrick committed himself to prayer, then he took a risk and won many souls for Christ.

Why are we so complacent about our spiritual life and that of others? Why are we so timid, so afraid of what people might say or do, that we are paralyzed from helping others to Christ?

Courage is the willingness to risk lesser things for the sake of greater.

I know you love Christ. Prove it to him and yourself. Risk the lesser things for the greater and take some steps to help someone to God.

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St. Patrick’s Day is a day to take a risk for the love of God.

Think about the inner circle of people God placed in your life: spouse, kids and grandkids, a son or daughter in law, parents, friends…

What can we do to help them grow closer to Jesus?

Step One: commit yourself to daily deep friendship with Jesus in meditation like you are doing now in this Rosary.

Step Two: take the initiative to spend time with your inner circle regularly – habitually so that you can…tell them they are going to hell for their unbelief. No! So that you can delight in them and show them their infinite self-worth by your genuine delight. And put your effort into getting to know them better and better.

Step Three: Well, that depends on what you learn from step two – delighting in them and getting to know them better because that will give you the insight to invite them to the next right step. That might be to continue to delight in them through friendship; or ask them if there is something for which you can pray; and ask them if they are praying for that; or ask if you can share this podcast with them; or invite them to pray with you. Step two done well and with patience tells you what step three should be.

That’s what Patrick did with the Irish and it worked. It will work with your crew as well.

And remember, it’s a lot better to be enslaved by pirates and taken from your homeland, stripped of your comforts and attachments than to be spiritually dead.