BBC Radio 4 2016-03-17

BBC Radio 4 2016-03-17

Good Morning on this St. Patrick’s Day.

This year’s celebrations may be somewhat special, for later this month Ireland will mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising which set off a chain of events leading to the partition of Ireland in 1922.

St. Patrick’s Day has become a national celebration, more now famed for partying and celebration than example and faith. But St. Patrick’s story is more than just having a good party; though one doesn’t necessarily contradict the other in Irish life – think of the wake! Patrick gives a powerful example of how the faith of one person can overcome human weakness and alter the course of history.

St. Patrick, probably a young Briton, was kidnapped in the 5th Century and enslaved in Ireland as a shepherd boy, before escaping and returning to his family. But he didn’t hate the Irish or seek revenge for what they did. Rather he later returned to convert them to the Christian faith.

His example is worth remembering. Because for many today religion is seen not as a means of liberation from human ills, nor a message of salvation, love or forgiveness; some turn it into a vehicle of temporal revenge for injustices, both real and perceived. Patrick’s return to Ireland was not as a leader of armies to right a wrong. Rather his return was with the simple message of the gospel and one that spread because of how he lived. He sought out his captors, not to kill them, but to inspire them to lead better lives. And he did so by persuasion and example, not coercion.

St. Patrick’s message is that you just don’t learn a faith, but you live it. You teach it not simply through words or books, but through actions and you do so, not just when it is easy, but when it is most humanely difficult.

In recent centuries, it’s not always been easy for that message to be heard above the competing political ideologies and national identities which have gripped the island of Ireland.

As Ireland – North and South - makes its own reconciliation with its past century of divisions and fears, it can reflect on St. Patrick’s example nearly sixteen hundred years on. He still shows us how it is not hatred, revenge or coercion which converts human hearts, but love and peace.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day.