Saint Patrick - Walking With God

Making a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick in Mayo and climbing the reek is still one of the activities closely related to Patrick

One of the things that struck me when I came to New Zealand in 2006 was the number of parishes and schools that bore the name of Patrick. I wondered if that was just because of the Irish influence here or whether it might also have something to do with the way the story of Patrick has captured the imagination of Christians worldwide. That story includes the many legends that developed around him – like driving snakes out of Ireland or using the shamrock to speak about the Trinity or lighting the Easter fire on the hill of Slane thereby upsetting the king at nearby Tara. But from the book of his Confessions we have a personal insight into his life and his spirituality.  As the scholar D.A. Binchy, put it, “The moral and spiritual greatness of the man shines through every stumbling sentence of his ‘rustic’ Latin.”

His story is that of a missionary who returned to the country that enslaved him as a youth in order to share with them the riches of the gospel. One could imagine that once he had made his escape, he would never want to see the country or the people that enslaved him again. Yet he came back. Why?

In his time as a slave, alone on the hills of a foreign land looking after the sheep, Patrick developed a close companionship with God in prayer. This sustained him in his loneliness and isolation. It may have been that the experience of God walking the hills with him as a youth prepared his heart to hear the people of Ireland calling for him to return and walk among them once more. Knowing how lonely and empty life can be without the companionship of God may have motivated him to help Irish people discover the God of Jesus.

Saint Patrick

Though he felt ill equipped for the task, he walked the length and breadth of the country preaching and baptising. He was not the first to do so but he was very successful in setting up a strong base for the development and growth of the faith in Ireland.  Perhaps what touches the imagination most is the fact that such a seemingly unpromising missionary, one who might have been expected to hate the Irish people and who was not noted for his intellectual ability, achieved such success. His is a story of hope and of what God can do when people walk with him.

Making a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick in Mayo and climbing the reek is still one of the activities closely related to Patrick. Pilgrimage is a way of walking with God and so it seems appropriate that people remember and celebrate Patrick by walking this particular hill. Like the two despondent and discouraged disciples who walked the road to Emmaus with a stranger only to be reenergised for mission by recognising the one who walked with them, Patrick’s constant walking with God provided the impetus and energy for him to return to Ireland on mission.

By Fr Pat O'Shea - Lower Hutt, New Zealand

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