iCrucified

[17MAR2012] Lent 2012: Day 25—Reflection and Meditation

“Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7)

It is interesting to me how we are able to reduce the legacy of someone to a celebration where the “high” point is a parody written in overindulgence. Today hundreds of thousands of people have “remembered” the legacy of Saint Patrick by partying, drinking alcohol to excess, and most probably a host of indiscretions that usually accompany drunkenness. It is not my intent to criticize anyone’s freedom to get drunk and party. Whoop it up by all means if that is what you wish to do, but the information that I have learned about Saint Patrick does not inspire me to drink green beer and hammer shots of Bushmills…or tip pints of Guinness and sip on tumblers of Jameson’s neat.

Saint Patrick inspires me to whole-heartedly submit myself to the hard work of transformation and discipleship as I follow after the Savior of my soul, the Messiah Lord, Jesus Christ.  From the Confession of St. Patrick:

“I thank God without ceasing for keeping me steadfast amid affliction so that today I may trustingly offer the living sacrifice of myself to Christ my Lord, who has saved me from all perils. Who am I, Lord, and what is my destiny, that you should so overwhelm me with your gifts? For today I have constant joy among the pagans who surround me, and I glorify your name in every place, in difficulty no less than in prosperity. Whatever comes to me, good or ill, I can accept with serenity and thank God, who has shown me how to trust in him as my sure stay and who has heard my prayers.”

A Prayer—O Almighty God, who alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; grant unto your people that they may love the thing you command, and desire that which you do promise, that so among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen  –The Gelasian Sacramentary