Beer, Brisket, Bar Fights … and Saint Patrick

Every year we celebrate the feast of St. Patrick.

We feast on foods, some of which have nothing to do with Irish tradition. We drink green beer, we march in parades – or in the case of 2014 in Boston, we fight about marching in parades. Leave it to Boston to host a fight around the feast of St. Patrick – there’s a true Irish tradition.

But as we get drunk and rowdy, giving bad name to a holy-day, a saint, and in some cases, a school, how much do we know about St. Patrick.

Did you know:

• St. Patrick was one of the world’s most popular saints

• He was born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387

• As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep.

• During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer

• Patrick’s captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family.

• He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”

• He began his studies for the priesthood.

• Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

And the shamrock? 

Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

Saint Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.

You can read a bit more about Dublin, Ireland here and more about Saint Patrick here.

And I’ll leave you on this lovely day with a beautiful song with a Celtic beat and a biblical story. Take a moment to listen. The story, the artist, the conviction. It’s just warming.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!

~ ~ ~

DIERKS BENTLEY – PRODIGAL SON

 

Don’t Let It End

Boston – it’s been an indescribable week. There’s no getting around that fact. The events that unfolded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, 2013 were the beginning of a week of horror.

There’s no need to “recap” the events. I don’t think there’s a place on the planet that didn’t become aware of the going ons. Yes, indeed, the Boston Marathon Bombings had a “ripple” effect across the planet. It was a horrible ripple that actually built and built and built like a Tsunami wave – a Tsunami wave of humanity.

But let’s “recap” the effects:

• The Boston Marathon Bombings sent a shock wave across a City, a State and the World
• Runners and bystanders reached out immediately to assist injured victims
• Businesses opened up their doors to take stranded, injured and terrified runners and visitors in
• People opened up their homes to take stranded, injured and terrified runners and visitors in
• Two Emerson college students created the “Boston Strong” logo and tee-shirt out of a need to feel as though they were doing something to help – a sincere gesture which has gone on to raise millions of dollars which the victims of the bombing will receive.
• Support, prayers and donations came in in a variety of different ways
• Prejudice was put down as man instantly became one entity realizing they needed each other to get through this
  

All in all, this horrific event brought to the forefront the magnitude of what can be accomplished when we join in and support each other, love each other and are simply there for each other in whatever way we can be, big or small. It all matters as was evidenced in this past week in Boston and around the world.

So let’s take one very strong lesson from this horrific tragedy.

Don’t let it end …

This song is one of my all time favorite songs ever. It is sure to send chills down your spine. It sums it up eloquently. Listen, heed and share!

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P.S. Normally, the writer-researcher in me would have “linked” above to all the accounts mentioned. But that’s not what this article was about. The only thing I seek to do here is to share the “Power of Love” and how not letting it end is the answer!

😉

 

I’d Much Rather Be

We all have that someone in our lives who left an impression . . . a pain . . . a lasting desire perhaps . . . right ? !

Okay ! Lucky you if you don’t  – or – maybe not

 

Well anyway, right now I’m hunkered down on a dismal Saturday catching up on work because it’s 19 degrees here in Boston – and who’d wanna go out in that !

So tell me – what is it about temperatures that chilling that conjure up warm feelings, memories and thoughts that I’d much rather grab a bottle of Black Opal Cabernet Merlot (Australian) and be . . .

Somewhere With You – Kenny Chesney

Ahhh . . .

I Love – um –  Kenny Chesney almost as much as he loves Boston !

🙂