Tomorrow, make sure you’re wearing green because it’s March 17th, also known as St. Patrick’s Day!
Why do we celebrate it? Why do we even have it? Do people still know the story, the legends, behind the day? Let me refresh your memory.
Patrick was born to a Romanized family in Britain. He was kidnapped by Irish raiders at age 16 and taken into slavery in Ireland. Did you catch all that?! He wasn’t even Irish!!! He was kidnapped by the Irish!!
This was his introduction to the Irish culture and way of life. While a slave, he turned to his faith to help him survive until he could escape. But, he was a dreamer and his plan for escaping came to him in a dream. He followed the steps laid out in the dream and found his way to a ship to take him home, back to his family.
So, how did he become a patron saint in Ireland? It was again because of a dream. He wrote in his autobiography, Confessio, about another dream he had calling him back to Ireland. In this dream, he was delivered a letter that was titled “The Voice of the Irish.”
The letter asks him to return to Ireland. He didn’t go right away. He continued his education, all the while thinking himself inadequate to lead the people to his faith. However, once in Ireland, he lived a true discipline faith. He travelled all over converting people to Christianity and, like Paul from the Bible, was put in chains for it.
He was just a humble man following the words of God and living according to his faith. One of the stories about him talks about how he used a three-leaf clover to tell people about the Holy Trinity.
I’ll be honest, I knew he was a man of faith, but I never quite knew the whole story until my research for this blog. How inspiring he is to go back to where he was once a slave so he could serve the people and God there! Could you do that? Could you go back to a place that holds negative emotions in your heart and practice your faith? I would like to say I could, but honestly, I don’t know. So, I think I’ll start with just wearing green tomorrow and admiring a man who had the ability to walk in his faith.
