Patrick

St Patrick  •  Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

A happy St Patrick’s Day to you all! St Patrick is one of Ireland’s greatest sons and one of Europe’s greatest evangelists, although, ironically, born in Wales around 385 AD (scholars point to Fishguard as his place of birth). The young saint had a deeply traumatic childhood, having been kidnapped by marauding pirates and sold into a life of slavery in Ireland. He worked as a slave shepherd boy in County Antrim but managed to escape to Gaul (France) and later made his way to England. It was during this time that he heard the call to return to work among the Irish. 
Speaking about his conversion to Christ, St Patrick once said: ‘I was like a young stone lying in deep mud but he that is mighty lifted me up and placed me on top of the wall.’ He revealed that the secret to his ministry and life was prayer. In prayer he learnt of God’s goodness, mercy and love and in prayer he found the strength to serve God and his people. He explained: ‘I used to pray often during the day, and the love of God and the fear of him increased in me more and more. My faith began to grow and my spirit was stirred, so that one day I would say as many as a hundred prayers. I used to rise at dawn for prayer, in snow, frost or rain, because of the glow of the Spirit in me.’
What an amazing and wonderful example of the heart of the evangelist we have in St Patrick! You see the key to evangelism isn’t others, it’s ourselves. We need to be evangelized ourselves first: we need to overflow with the love of God, we need to be able to witness to knowing God’s grace and mercy in our own lives, before we can pass that love and grace on to others. The harvest is plentiful: people are open, interested and responsive to those who have an authentic witness and a clear grasp of the gospel message. By the grace of our baptism we are all called to evangelize and win others for Christ. Christ came to set us free and the gospel is the only message that truly sets men and women free.
‘The gospel is liberation from everything that oppresses [us] but is above all liberation from sin and the Evil One.’ (Evangelii nuntiandi 9)