Fr. John Ryan

 

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

17th March 2007

Of late TVS have been running a promotional piece on its programmes for St.Patrick's Weekend. In the 'ad' clips from a number of programmes are shown. The introduction to these clips is "This weekend is all about the ceol and the craic". No doubt there will be a lot of ceol agus craic around the country this weekend and indeed there will be all around the world. I'd nearly go so far as to say there will be a lot of 'ól' and 'crack' attached to the celebrations of many. What a pity though that the real meaning of the 17th March is forgotten. This weekend is not all about the ceol and the craic, the -ó1 or the crack - it is about one man who through his dedication introduced a message to this country that points us beyond all that this world has to offer. It is about one man who taught a people about another Man. It is about St. Patrick, his faith in Jesus Christ and his passing on that faith. When St. Patrick's Day goes by without reference to the mission of Patrick himself then a huge disservice is being done to the man and his life.
Why celebrate if the true reason for celebration is not part of it? A sure indication I think that the real reason for the holiday is forgotten is the reference to the 17th March as Paddy's Day - to me, that is a sure sign that the evangelical purpose of Patrick's coming to Ireland is forgotten and leads to a distortion of how we perceive the day. If the commemoration of Patrick as Saint is the focus then we hold on to the reverence for the person we commemorate. In faith, we reverence our national father in faith. I could imagine the uproar in some circles if on Easter Monday while speaking of the Easter 1916 Rising we referred to Padraig Pearse as Paddy Pearse. It wouldn't go down too well.
The 17th March without Christ is an empty celebration. For St. Patrick the centre of existence for us is Jesus Christ - Christ with me, Christ near me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ above me, Christ below me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my rising, Never to part. The central motif of St. Patrick's Breastplate is the person of the Saviour. To remove the One who is central in the life of our Patron Saint is to remove the source of St. Patrick's holiness, determination and sense of mission and ultimately removes why we are celebrating over this weekend.
For our Patron Saint, Christ, the Son of God made. man, allows us to see God, to experience the Trinity. He, Christ, reveals the Divinity to us and allows us recognise our origin and our ultimate end. Only then does this life have any meaning. Our short existence in this world from conception to death only makes sense in the light of this revelation. The growth in the deep, spiritual unrest in our nation; the continual spiralling into a violent, selfish, ungrateful people runs in tandem with the continual rejection of that Revelation - God is slowly being removed from the hearts of the Irish and the void left behind cannot be filled.
We pray that St. Patrick will again hear the voices of the Irish as they cry out for meaning and through his intercession may the Lord inspire those who carry the message of Jesus Christ the Revealer of the Trinity in their apostolic mission.