St. Patrick’s Day

Everyone has heard of

St. Patrick.

He’s the reason we wear green on March 17 and decorate with shamrocks and leprechauns and other symbols of Ireland. But who was St. Patrick? What made him a saint? Why do we celebrate him?

Patrick was born in the fifth century in Scotland. He came from a farming family, and one day when he was about 16, he was kidnapped by pirates and taken to Ireland. There he was enslaved for six years, mostly caring for animals and working on an Irish farm. When he was 22, he finally escaped and returned home across the sea. He became a cleric and returned to Northern and Western Ireland to tell people about the love of God.

Lots of people thought Patrick was crazy to even think about going back to the country where he had been held captive. But Patrick knew that God’s story was for everyone, even his enemies and those who had hurt him.

Patrick did not just share God’s story with his enemies, he also ministered to other outcast groups: women, other slaves, the poor. Because he refused to take money or bribes from the rich and powerful, Patrick too was an outsider. He did not go look for the coolest or the strongest or the most powerful. Patrick went to people who you might not expect to be story makers.

It reminds us of Jesus, who appeared to three women first after his resurrection and who called fishermen and shepherds, not the “best and brightest,” to be his disciples and witnesses. God uses everyone—from the most important to the least, from the oldest to the youngest, from the smartest to the simplest—to tell his story. Patrick reminds us that God is always telling his story, sometimes in exactly the ways and places we cannot anticipate.