Luck Of The Irish

St. Patrick's Day always brings out the 'green' in us all... Whether we are part Irish, or not - We all celebrate this fine day by wearing the color green, eating shepherd's pie or soda bread, drinking green ale, or relentlessly pinching those that were unfortunate enough to not have on green today... Like any holiday that the masses know nothing about - we blindly jump on the band wagon... Some cities have big parades while others (like Chicago) go so big that they dye the river green on this day...

But did you know that St. Patrick was not a green leprechaun-looking man, sitting around in a pub having a pint singing, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling?" The celebration of St. 'Paddy's' Day actually started as a 'holy day' remembered by the Irish Catholic Church...

During the early 5th Century - Patricius (Patrick) returned to Ireland (after having been made a slave there as a boy - you should research the story - it's interesting) to share the Good News of Jesus Christ... Through the power of God he was responsible for several converts from paganism to Christianity over a period of 20 years... He traveled all around Ireland preaching and baptizing the Irish... He devoted his life to blessing those that would have made him a slave and striving to set them free...

This world has a strange way of twisting the memory of these different saints to fit a more popular view: Patrick, Nicholas, Valentine, etc. Don't you just wonder how these followers of Christ would feel about their memory being shifted in such a way that brings NO GLORY to the ONE DUE IT!

Fun Fact for Today:

Tradition says that Patrick used the three-leaf shamrock to illustrate the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit... So today as you are seeing these everywhere - instead of thinking about the advertisement - why don't you see what Patrick saw - The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit!