A Moment Aside for 16 March 2021

 A Moment Aside --- 16 March 2021

                                                                  

I’ll need to ask your indulgence for this devotional. You see, my heritage is mostly Irish. (With grandparents samed Dailey, Dever, and McKillarny, I can’t deny it.) St. Pádraig has true meaning to me, and not for all the “shamrockery” of alcohol, green-dyed rivers, and ill-fitting green hats that goes with some folk’s celebration of his festival.

Pádraig was actually a British Celt from what is now called England. He was captured by Irish raiders when he was young and spent about six years in Ireland (or as the Romans called it “Hibernia” (“The land of winter”) He returned as a missionary later in his life, sometime in the 5^th Century of the Christian Era. Although he may not be the first Christian missionary to that island, he receives the credit as “the apostle to Ireland.” His spiritual descendants – like Columba, Brendan, and Cáiran - later came to Europe to re-evangelize those nations after the barbarian migrations.

All that history aside, Pádraig is seen as a saint and a man who centered himself on God in Jesus Christ. There is a prayer attributed to him called St. Patrick’s Breastplate or the Lorica. It’s sometimes called The Cry of the Deer. Here is a portion of it.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Not a bad way to start the day.