Reclaiming St. Patrick’s Day
March 17th. What do we normally think about today?
Maybe it’s the dawn of a 1-day crusade to pinch all life forms devoid of the color green.
Maybe it’s saying “kiss me, I’m Irish!” to every stranger you see.
Maybe it’s watching an emerald tidal wave of drunk college students in the streets using the day as one of many convenient excuses to go stark-raving mad in an alcohol-fueled rampage.
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Whether you see St. Patty’s Day as nothing more than a seasonal Snapchat filter or as a free pass for a beer bender, it’s fair to say that the holiday has been removed from its original intent.
What if I told you that the holiday has a much deeper meaning than our culture gives it credit for?
It’s been washed down just like many other great holidays in our culture. Look around you on Christmas. How many more Christmas trees than Nativity scenes do you see? Okay, now try Easter. If you asked a kid what he was most excited about, what do you think he’d talk about more: the Resurrection of Christ or the Easter Bunny? Valentine’s Day, even; do many people go further than the sappy couple posts on Instagram and ponder that the day celebrates the life of a Saint?
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Holidays are meant to carry an entirely different meaning. Feast Days, in particular, were not meant to be licenses for thoughtless partying; in fact, they were created to do the opposite. In the early Church, Catholics faced intense persecution for their faith. Many brave men and women had to take a stand for their faith, choosing God in the face of a world that wanted to blot God’s name out of the world for good. Morale was often low in the fight against anti-Catholic oppression; so the Church, to help lift the spirits of its “venerable brethren,” introduced these Feast Days to remind Catholics why they worshipped in the first place. They were meant to bring us closer to our roots, not farther away! The Church understands that we, as human beings, have a need for prayer to be physical and tangible; just look at the sacraments! Feast Days are no different, and Pope Pius XI commented on this beautifully:
“Man is composed of body and soul, and he needs these external festivities so that the sacred rites, in all their beauty and variety, may stimulate him to drink more deeply of the fountain of God’s teaching, that he may make it a part of himself, and use it with profit for his spiritual life.”¹
St. Patrick’s Day celebrates the life of a great man and is an opportunity to learn from his incredible story!
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What if I told you that St. Patrick is one of the greatest evangelists, priests, and missionaries to ever live? What if I told you that we can draw great inspiration from his life?
It’s only fitting that St. Pat’s day has lost its meaning; St. Patrick knew a thing or two about a culture that didn’t understand him. Imagine this: you’re a young and bright-eyed follower of God. Born originally in Britain, you spent your youth as a slave in Ireland after being kidnapped by pirates in your early teens. You escape from Ireland after six years and return home a changed man, ready to give your “yes” to God. Then, all of a sudden, God calls you to do something incredible: he tells you to go back to Ireland.
“Ireland? The place where he was enslaved in his youth?” You may ask. “Why would God want him to go back to that place? What was so special about Ireland, anyway?”
There was one small detail I have yet to mention: Ireland was entirely pagan. Not a single Catholic lived there.
God was telling Patrick to be the sole representative of the entire Catholic Faith. He was telling Patrick, a mere man, to go to a place where he knew only bondage and convert an entire island of people who had no idea who God was. Even harder to bear, they had deep-rooted pagan beliefs and traditions that they had practiced for at least hundreds of years.
Doesn’t this sound intimidating to you?
From a guy that can hardly tell a crowd that I like rom-coms without blushing, I think it’s fair to say that this sounds like a big ask!
Anyways, back to Patrick. In spite of all his doubts about fears about his ability to spread the word of God, Patrick boldly took up his cross and went into the unknown. Guided only by his faith in God, Patrick left everything and gave himself entirely to the apostolic mission. His “yes” was bravely leaving his place of comfort and venturing back into a hostile environment, leaning solely on God’s promise.
Think about your prayer life; can you think of a time where God was calling you to be radical and do something totally against the grain?
Patrick gave God his “yes,” and God rewarded him! Patrick was able to convert thousands and thousands of people to the Catholic Faith. He used the image of the shamrock as a visual aid to help explain the Holy Trinity and was known for his simple, approachable teaching style.
Can you imagine dropping everything to go speak to the souls of people with whom you share so little in common? That’s what St. Patrick did, and that’s the reason we celebrate him.
It’s exactly what we try to do at The Culture Project. As missionaries, we commit ourselves to spend entire years of our lives in places we’ve often never been, to students we’d never meet otherwise. Inspired by the stories of great missionaries like St. Patrick, we try, in our small way, to boldly go forth and proclaim the goodness of God to people that often don’t know Him.
Our culture needs more people like St. Patrick. So many issues plague our society today because we’ve ceased to truly know God. Think about how many kids drift away from the Faith and fall into negative outlets like premarital sex, drugs, and pornography, to name a few. Our culture may know who God is, unlike the Irish pagans of St. Patrick’s time, but it doesn’t know Him in His fullness.
As we must do in all parts of our lives, let’s use this holiday as an opportunity to go above the culture! Life is about more than finding reasons to drink and party mindlessly; God loves us too much to hold us to such a low bar. He created us in His image and He created us to carry out His Word. Let’s use this holiday as one of many reminders to spread the Good News! Let’s be inspired by the marvelous “yes” that St. Patrick gave to God and think about how we can Him give our own “yes.”
Onwards and upwards to all of you. May God be with you, and have a blessed Feast Day of St. Patrick!
St. Patrick…pray for us!
