Lessons from Saint Patrick

With St. Patrick’s Day approaching (March 17th!), and our family finally feeling like things in the home are falling into place, we are eager to celebrate. We missed a few festivals due to our move (Lent festivities, a real bummer since I’m of Cajun decent and Mardi Gras would have been fun here at the house!) so with our new little wooden table we are starting to build a Waldorf nature table in the living room. We’re sprouting a bed of clover and chia seeds this week, which will be decorated with blown and painted eggs shells and other Springtime crafts to come over the next few weeks.

There are two new chicks sleeping quietly in the brooder in the craft room right now. They are both Sex-Links, one Gold and one Black. I’ve named them “Daffodil” and “Velvet”. Two more are coming, hopefully arriving on Tuesday – a Rhode Island Red and an Americauna. I can’t wait!

This week’s milestones include: Verity took 5 steps in a row on her own! Also, we opened accounts at the local credit union and we all got library cards. The library here is actually quite impressive!

It was at the library that I picked up a copy of “Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs; The Story of the St. Patrick’s Day Symbols”, and a variety of Celtic/Irish kids CD’s.

St. Patrick was an interesting guy. He wasn’t actually Irish – he was British- and was captured and taken slave in Ireland as a young man. After 6 years there, he ran away, but later after he became a priest, he believed he was being told by God to return to the land of his former master’s to bring them the story of Jesus/ Christianity. He was brave and driven, and his life spent among the Celts was considered a success by the Church. Many village chieftains and druids (celtic pagan priests) were baptized and he left monks and church plans in ever village he left. It is said that his influence contributed to Ireland’s ability to keep alive the arts and education during the “Dark Ages” in Europe.

Aside: I like the name Patrick (I have both a paternal uncle AND a maternal uncle named Patrick – and I lived on Kilpatrick Street in Portland for the last year- a variation the St. Patrick name).

There are two parts to the story that impressed me and that I will be able to add as spiritual “findings” as we celebrate the holiday this Wednesday:

First is that St. Patrick was effective in part because he was relevant and engaged the current culture of that time and place. From his time in captivity, “he knew the manners, the customs, and language of the people who lived there. What was more, he had a deep urge to be the savior of a people who had once enslaved him.” Furthermore, he honored the Celtic traditions: “Patrick never tried to stamp out old rites and customs. Instead, he found a way to combine them with Christian customs.”

In addition, Patrick divided the saints into three categories: 1. “A Glory on the Mountaintop”, 2. “A Gleam on the Hillside”, or 3. “A Faint Light in a Valley”.

Those who consider themselves followers of Christ might do well to ask ourselves which one he might have called us.

More St. Patrick’s Day facts and fun to come…