Monday, March 17

Commemoration of Patrick, bishop and missionary to Ireland

Reading: Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

"For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”  Romans 4:13

On his last night as a slave to Miliucc, a chieftain “king” near present-day Ballymena, Northern Ireland, Patrick received a message. A voice said to him: “ Your hungers are rewarded: you are going home. Look, your ship is ready.” The hills where Patrick tended sheep and pigs as a slave were nowhere near any port, but Patrick reports that he left and walked two hundred miles to a port, where a ship was indeed loading. He eventually made his way to a monastery in France for his theological education, and returned to Ireland after a second vision.. God said to Abram, not “Poof!,” but “Go-you-forth!” and Abram went. God said to Patrick, not “Whoosh!,” but “Your ship is ready.” And Patrick went. How many summons have we received from God? And when the next one comes, will we take that first step?

I arise today

Through God’s strength to pilot me:

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me … Amen.  (St. Patrick’s Breastplate)

• Take the first step in doing an act of love you have put off for a long time.