St. Patrick
Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,
I pray that you are blessed. This past week we celebrated the feast of St. Patrick, who many people claim as their patron Saint. Apparently, it doesn’t take much Irish blood for someone to consider themselves Irish, especially on March 17th. Just look at the sea of green, from what people wear, to the huge parades, and the shamrock and leprechaun decorations absolutely everywhere! Adults drink green beer and kids eat cereal that turns the milk green. When the feast falls on a Friday of Lent, bishops have been known to lift the ban on meat. When you look at all of this it is hard to believe that when the Irish first came to this country they were often discriminated against to a greater degree than Black people. “Irish need not apply” signs were common place.
Now, you look across the country and you can see all the amazing contributions made by the Irish from politics, to religion, to industry and culture. I once read an article entitled, “The Greening of America,” that listed many of those contributions. If you are interested I will let you Google them for yourselves, or read the book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, but needless to say, America would not look the same without the Irish. Strange to think about it after the severe and often violent discrimination that many of them faced. It makes one wonder what amazing contributions will be made by some of the people who are currently standing at our borders dreaming of a better life. Many of them fleeing similar conditions that the Irish fled from during the “potato famine” and the persecution of the British.
St. Patrick is the perfect model for this transition. He was first carried to Ireland in chains. He would eventually escape his enslavement, make his way home, become a priest, and then return to offer Salvation to the very people who had so mistreated him. He set aside all of the anger and resentment, and dedicated his life to serving the Irish people.
It is easy to find new examples of hatred and division, but as disciples of Christ we are to follow the example of St. Patrick and be people of mercy and forgiveness. We are commanded to “turn the other cheek,” to “pray for our persecutors,” and to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” When we look at our neighbors, at the people standing at our borders, to the person on the street-corner, who do we see? How do we respond to their needs? There are plenty of examples for us to follow, there are many who chose to respond with darkness, and unfortunately, far fewer who responded with Light. Which will we choose?
In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick