by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
“Trust in the Lord my God and turn to Him with all your hearts since nothing is impossible for Him” (St Patrick, Confessio)
Today, March 17, the fifth Sunday of Lent, is also St Patrick’s Day, which is celebrated in many parts of the world. I hope to join my brother, his wife, and their team at Mahogany Carnival Ltd in London as we take part in London’s annual celebration of St Patrick’s Day.
For the past 10 years, Mahogany has produced amazing costumes for this parade which will begin at GreenPark at noon. Thousands of individuals participate in both the parade and the festival at Trafalgar Square. Marching bands, floats, street theatre etc create a unique atmosphere. Church services are an integral part of the celebrations.
St Patrick, who was a Christian missionary to Ireland, is Ireland’s patron saint. During my days as a student at Holy Faith Convent, Couva, I listened to the Irish Sisters of the Holy Faith as they told wonderful stories about the life of St Patrick. The few Irish sisters who are still with us in T&T still wear their shamrock with pride.
There are many legends about St Patrick e.g. that he used the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, to teach about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; and that he banished snakes from Ireland.
He was born in Roman Britain around AD 387. When he was about 16 years of age he was captured by Irish marauders and sold as a slave to an Irish chieftain. For about six years he tended his master’s flocks in Ireland.
Read his Declaration (Confessio) in which he “gives a short account of his life and his mission. He writes that ‘his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily. After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away, where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties’” (Wikipedia).
He later became a priest and returned to Ireland where he was ordained Bishop in the north and west of Ireland. He converted and baptised thousands of people and ordained many priests. “According to the latest reconstruction of the old Irish annals, Patrick died in AD 460 on March 17” (Wikipedia).
Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, Savannah Diocese, USA, talks about St Patrick’s “absolute fascination with and commitment to Jesus Christ” and “his passion for justice in upholding the rights of every human being in the image of God.”
Each morning we say our prayers as we thank God for allowing us to greet a new dawn. In my room I have a poster drawn by one of my nieces. It reads: “Dear Lord, I thank you for life. As I go about my duties today, I know that there is nothing that you and I can’t handle.” I end with the wonderful words of St Patrick – called St Patrick’s Breastplate, which has been used in a number of hymns and which many use as their morning prayer:
“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.
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me,
Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me, Christ in the hearts of all that love me,
Christ in the mouth of friend and stranger.
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. Amen.
I bind myself to God’s power to guide me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to teach me, God’s Eye to watch over me, God’s Ear to hear me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to shelter me, God’s host to secure me…Against the snares of demons, against the seductions of vices, against the lusts of nature, against everyone who meditates injury to me, whether far or near, few or many.”
