March is the month of St. Patrick’s Day when we honor an immigrant who
came to a little island on the western edge of Europe in the fifth century.
He came, not to conquer the natives, or confiscate their land, but to give
them new hope for life in the next world and great inspiration for living
in this one.
The sun was the icon of worship for these hardy people who tamed its light
to touch the ashes of the dead and tried constantly to taste its essence in
the big fires they built on the stones.
Patrick came to announce a God of circling infinite energy in eternal individuality
and unity. A trinity of persons in one God that is faintly reflected in everything
and delightfully by the shamrock in the patch of clover at his feet. He was
a Moses on the mountain (Croagh Patrick in Mayo) teaching people to follow
Jesus on an exodus to an eternal destiny through a desert of suffering and
death.
Quickly the people saw there was more to hope than the birth of a sun at the
dawn of the day. The rising of Christ in Easter glory was a sun that never
set in the enlightened imagination of the people. A new fire of faith it was,
that so far, has stayed alive in the wet winds of almost sixteen centuries.
Patrick, who first came to Ireland as a captive, came freely the second time
and captured the hearts of the people, but he was never able to tame the wild
imaginations in this green island. These people linked the circle of their
sun to the wooden beams of the crucifixion for the glorious symbol of Celtic
crosses that still stand in the graveyards.
