Kyle Dresback
Dear Friends,
Today is the Feast Day of Saint Patrick. The historical Patrick—Patricius by name—has been layered over by centuries of hagiographic legend and not a little kitschy merchandising. For anyone curious, though, two of his writings have survived: his Confession and a letter he wrote home to Britain. These fifth-century writings are historically significant as they are some of the last writings of pre-medieval Europe and among the first known writings in Irish history.
To read Patricius’s account of his own ministry in Ireland is to read the words of an uncertain, sometimes pessimistic saint; not at all the glossy hero of the children’s books striding confidently into dark Ireland. Patricius suffered regular failures and setbacks and much of his mission is hampered by ordinary things that we well recognize: distrust, corruption, bureaucracy, betrayal, doubt, and failure. The details of his story capture the windy, messy, strangely familiar, and sometimes surprising road to sainthood:
When he seeks to attain the rank of bishop, a friend leaks to the Church some moral failing of his and his bid is rejected.
His wish to return to Ireland to gain converts is also dismissed by the Church and discouraged by his family.
His attempts to raise funds for his mission are met with suspicion by Christians who accuse him of seeking only personal profit.
The hassles of paying off local Irish leaders and being thrown into Irish prisons are tedious and discouraging.
Having finally begun to establish some Irish Christian communities, one such community was attacked by a Christian British chieftain. In a letter back to Britain, Patricius pleads for justice and for British Christians to view their Irish counterparts are equals.
I wonder whether these hardships solidified Patricius’s association with and dedication to the Irish people who, once they began to join the ranks of the Church, increasingly found themselves rejected as outsiders, both by their Irish peers and sometimes by the Church itself.
While some of us may be called to take the Gospel to faraway lands, all of us are called to follow Patricius’s example, demonstrated first by Jesus himself, to consider the low and the other, to show love despite hardship and adversity, and to seek justice wherever we find ourselves.
In Christ,
—Kyle