Patrick died March 17, 494 which we now celebrate as St. Patrick's Day
(This article is adapted from SPIRITUAL LIVES.)
Ken Kalis
St. Patrick's journey is a powerful reminder of resilience and purpose. From his beginnings as a slave to becoming a missionary, his story inspires us to overcome adversity.
I met St. Patrick at McGovern's Bar in Newark, NJ, where dozens were drinking themselves drunk to celebrate this saint.
-----Pātricius [paːˈtrɪ.ki.ʊs], the only name he used, was a holy man of God who knew Him well
-----God spoke to him in visions and sometimes audibly and called him to be His own.
-----He gave his life to win Ireland for Jesus and teach about the Holy Trinity.
Read today's article, largely in his own words, and be blessed by his testimony.
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Patrick* (415?-494} was born sometime in the early 5th century in Cumbria, England. This was an important Roman naval base on the northwest coast of Great Britain on the Irish Sea, directly west of what is now Belfast, Northern Ireland. Although his father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest, Patrick was not a believer.
An asterisk after a name means the person is in SPIRITUAL LIVES.
At age 16, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and put to work as a slave. For 6 years, he tended sheep and, like David* (1085-1015 BC), had lots of time to meditate on his condition and seek the Lord. He prayed, asked for forgiveness, and was "born again." We are blessed to have two documents from his own hand,
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. I never felt the worse for it, and I never felt lazy – as I realise now, the spirit was burning in me then. - Confessio
At the end of the 6 years, he received direction from a voice telling him that a ship was ready to take him home. He escaped at once and walked 200 miles to the coast, where he found the promised ship and convinced the captain to take him aboard. After 3 days' sailing, they landed in Britain, and wandered in what Patrick described as "a wilderness" for 28 days, faint with hunger.
As despair grew, the young man urged the others to have faith in God. Shortly after, they came upon a herd of wild boars that supplied their needs, and the men believed. Eventually, he found his way home, where he began to see the Lord more earnestly.
Patrick determined never to leave home again, but God changed that resolve very soon:
I saw, in a vision in the night, a ma whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted. He gave me one of these, and I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish people.
While I was reading out the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard the voice of those beside the wood of Voclut, near the western sea. They called out as it were with one voice: “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” This touched my heart deeply, and I could not read any further; I woke up then. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord granted them what they were calling for.
The Lord Jesus began revealing Himself to Patrick in a wonderful way:
And another night-- God knows, I do not, whether within me or beside me-- most words which I heard and could not understand, except at the end of the speech it was represented thus: "He who gave his life for you, He it is who speaks within you."
And thus I awoke, joyful.And on a second occasion I saw Him praying within me, and I was as it were, inside my own body , and I heard Him above me-- that is, above my inner self. He was praying powerfully with sighs. And in the course of this I was astonished and wondering, and I pondered who it could be who was praying within me.
But at the end of the prayer it was revealed to me that it was the Spirit. And so I awoke and remembered the Apostle's words:
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we know not how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for utterance [Romans 8:26]."
And again: "The Lord our advocate intercedes for us [Romans 8:27]."
Led by the Word of God and Jesus* (4BC-30AD) Himself, Patrick devoted the rest of his life as a missionary to the Irish people, and through him, the whole country turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was one of the first to leave the comfort and safety of the Roman Empire and go “into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
God rewarded Patrick’s love for him and gave him this testimory: And if at any time I managed anything of good for the sake of my God whom I love, I beg of him that he grant it to me to shed my blood for his name with proselytes and captives, even should I be left unburied, or even were my wretched body to be torn limb from limb by dogs or savage beasts, or were it to be devoured by the birds of the air, I think, most surely, were this to have happened to me, I had saved both my soul and my body.
For beyond any doubt on that day we shall rise again in the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, as children of the living God and co-heirs of Christ, made in his image; for we shall reign through him and for him and in him.
---Confession, Patrick -
Led by the Word of God and Jesus* (4BC-30AD) Himself, Patrick devoted the rest of his life as a missionary to the Irish people, and through him, the whole country turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was one of the first to leave the comfort and safety of the Roman Empire and go “into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
He also wrote this song. I loved singing it loudly as I cut the lawn and was blessed!
He also wrote this song. I loved singing it loudly as I cut the lawn and was blessed!
1 I bind unto myself today
the strong name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
2 I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the star-lit heaven,
the glorious sun's life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea
around the old eternal rocks.
3 I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward,
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.
5 I bind unto myself the name,
the strong name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three,
of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation:
salvation is of Christ the Lord.
Author: Saint Patrick; Translator: Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)
About the image:
St. Patrick, with a shamrock in a stained glass window at the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows at Navy Pier in Chicago. Public Domain image: ID 88101017© publicdomainstockphotos | Dreamstime.com
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