PRAYING TO LEARN FROM ST PATRICK

 LEARNING FROM ST PATRICK

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  I don’t know where the pots of gold are hidden today but I know a life that is filled with golden nuggets of truth when I see one and St. Patrick’s life is certainly one of those.

Saint Patrick reminds us today that forgiveness is the best way of life.  When he was just 16 he was stolen from his home and taken to Ireland where he was held in slavery for 6 years.  He eventually escaped and returned home.  If it were me, I’d have been glad to be done with a people who treated me as a slave. 

But Saint Patrick lived for someone higher and better whose will matters more than what past circumstances have done to us. Patrick responded to the call of God and after becoming a priest he returned to Ireland to share the Gospel with folks there.  Instead of seeing people to hate, he saw people that God loved and valued and who needed to hear about Jesus.

It seems to me that Patrick followed the example of Jesus described in these verses:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Romans 5:6-8

Heavenly Father, I pray that You will help us see beyond doing something for others because they deserve it.  We have done nothing to earn Your love and grace and forgiveness and yet when the time was right, while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.  Your love for us runs deep.  The value You see in us lies way below the surface.

Help us in our own turn to model this kind of love and generosity and forgiveness.  Help us to keep our eyes focused on You and what You show us today is Your will for us.  It may be something easy that needs doing along with those we enjoy and work well with.  It may be something much more challenging that we need to initiate among people we don’t care for at all and don’t seem to deserve the effort at all. 

The bottom line is that we live today, as Patrick did, in the sure knowledge that Christ is with us and that in Him and in doing His will, all our days find meaning and purpose.

I thought we’d do something a little different and listen to St. Patrick’s prayer through part of the song written by Stuart Townend. 

Christ Be With Me 

Christ be with me, Christ within me

Christ behind me and before me

Christ beside me, Christ to win me

Christ to comfort and restore

Christ beneath me, Christ above me

Christ in hearts of all who know me

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger

Christ in quiet and in roar

Love, blessed Trinity of three

Bound in unity, who guides my journey

I will arise with strength of heaven

Trusting in Your light, to guide my journey

Shine before me, lead me home