SAINT PATRICK

      The following was given me at lunch today by one of our priests, Father Jeremiah O'Shea.  It was on a shamrock bookmark.

St. Patrick

Bishop of Armagh (died 461), was a Roman citizen who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland.  After escaping to his native Britain, Patrick heard a voice telling him to return to Ireland to serve the people he had met there.  It is said that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach about the Trinity.  It's three-in-one leaves symbolize Father, Son and Holy Spirit in one Supreme Being.  The Irish people knew intuitively that God is present in all of creation, and St. Patrick showed them that, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, God was beyond all of creation as well.

"I bind unto myself the name, 

The strong name of the Trinity by invocation of             the same.  

The Three in One and One in Three, 

Of whom all nature has creation.  

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word, 

Praise to the Lord of my salvation;  

Salvation is of Christ the Lord!"

            From St. Patrick's Breastplate

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK DAY!