Holy Week and St. Patrick's Day -- who'dathunk? It's actually a great fit if you spend a little time learning St. Patrick's deal in the first place.
Kidnapped as a child, and whisked away to a life of slavery in Ireland, Patrick escaped, only to return as the first missionary to the Irish, eventually becoming the bishop of the whole joint. There's the usual amount of uncertainty and conflicting stories about what Patrick did or didn't do. Regardless, the pagan Irish embraced Christianity with a joyous gusto, the likes of which Christians in later centuries would find wrong-headed, if not blasphemous.
Which wrong-headed Christianity would YOU choose? The one that parties too hard, or the one that disdains and discourages? Since I'm a sinner anyway, I'd rather ask forgiveness for the unrighteous fun I had.
My tradition swung the other way though, and now I'm clawing like a wolverine to get out of a religion that taught me not to like things so that I would not err. Oh, fallen world.
Our boyo confessed:
"I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of many."
I pray for the cojones to be that kind of Jesus worshiper.
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