Deacon’s Corner
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Few annual events are more universally anticipated and celebrated than St. Patrick’s Day. It seems that no place or people on earth are immune from the activities, the frivolities, the food and drink that take place every March 17th.
Surprisingly, given the popularity and influence of the day, many revelers know little about St. Patrick, the man. They might be surprised to learn that he never drank green beer (not even a Guinness), never ate corned beef and cabbage, never drove snakes out of Ireland, and had no leprechaun friends.
The majority of St. Patrick’s Day customs, myths, and fables have been perpetuated and instituted over a period of 16 centuries. Stripping away the widespread secular activities, we discover a holy person — a Saint — who spent more than 30 years successfully proclaiming the Gospel message, the gift of faith, to the people of Ireland.
Prayerfully recalling and recognizing his life as God’s chosen missionary is how to uncover the true spirit of St. Patrick.
St. Patrick taught the Irish about the Holy Trinity using the shamrock. Three leaves to one shamrock like three persons in one God — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Begin St. Patrick’s Day with a prayer attributed to him, such as this popular one below:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
Have a Blessed Lenten Season!
The observance of Lent is the very badge of Christian warfare. By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of Christ. By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should men grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God’s glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe. (Words of Pope Benedict XIV who reigned from 1740 – 1758)
The forty days’ fast, which we call Lent, is the Church’s preparation for Easter, and was instituted at the very commencement of Christianity. Our blessed Lord Himself sanctioned it by fasting forty days and forty nights in the desert. He would not impose it on the world by an express commandment, which in that case, could not have been open to the power of dispensation. He showed plainly enough, by His own example, that fasting, which God had so frequently ordered in the old Law, was to be practiced by the children of the new.
The apostles legislated for our weakness, by instituting at the very commencement of the Christian Church, the solemnity of Easter should be preceded by a universal fast. It was only natural they made this period of penance to consist of forty days, seeing that our divine Master consecrated that number by His own fast.
Lent, founded upon the three pillars of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, is the primary season of penance in the year and must be observed with the greatest strictness for the love of God who instituted this season for our healing.
Lenten fasting is a cornerstone of Lent and rediscovering true Catholic fasting for Lent is necessary to resurrect Christendom. The Lenten fast began under the Apostles themselves and was practiced in various forms.
St. Augustine in the fourth century remarked, “Our fast at any other time is voluntary; but during Lent, we sin if we do not fast.” At the time of St. Gregory the Great, at the beginning of the 7th century, the fast was universally established to begin on what we know as Ash Wednesday. The day was known as the Beginning of the Fast until Pope Urban II changed the name to Ash Wednesday.
Have a Blessed Lent!
Deacon Matt Martel