Thinking Anew:AS St Patrick's Day approaches, some may feel there is not very much for the Irish to celebrate in these gloomy times.
We feel let down by too many people in authority in church and state and we have let ourselves down by falling for the false promise of unlimited material prosperity. People are hurt and concerned about what the immediate future holds for them and their children.
In such a climate it is interesting to recall what Eamon de Valera had to say when he sat down to address the Irish people on St Patrick’s Day, 1943. It was wartime and life was both dangerous and difficult for everyone.
The speech is perhaps most remembered for its sentimental description of “that Ireland we dreamed of” where, according to the official text, he spoke of fields and villages “joyous with the sounds of industry, with the romping of sturdy children, the contests of athletic youths and the laughter of comely maidens whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age”. But there was more to the speech; and while we may smile at such images from the past, it is worth recalling what prompted those words and their relevance today. The dream was of a land which “would be the home of a people who valued material wealth only as the basis for right living, of a people who were satisfied
with frugal comfort and devoted their leisure to the things of the spirit.
“It would be the home of a people living the life that God desires that man should live.”
Mr de Valera also made the vital connection between the faith that St Patrick brought and life at every level – political, cultural and economic. The fact that his personal religious and political opinions were not shared by everyone does not diminish the importance of that connection.
For many people St Patrick’s Day is no longer a spiritual and religious occasion. For them it is an affirmation of who and what they are and has more to do with patriotism and a political identity which they want to celebrate and promote in the wider world. But this misses the crucial fact that Patrick did not come here to affirm anyone or anything, but to challenge the values and behaviour of the people of the time. And in many ways he still does so today.
He did not bring a constitution to Ireland; he brought a gospel – a fact often overlooked. It is a gospel that bothers the powerful and the privileged and threatens those who have everything except the ability to share with others. It is about a new order where truth and justice reign; where the poor and the marginalised are treated fairly; where the common good takes precedence over narrow self-interest.
Surely no one would seriously question our need as a people to rediscover such values and live by them.
So where does this leave us as we come to mark St Patrick’s Day? Certainly there can be no objection to people having fun and enjoying themselves responsibly, though there will be those who feel there is little to cheer and too much to fear and be ashamed of.
But for women and men of faith there will always be gratitude for the fact that when humankind has done its worst there remains the gospel of hope – St Patrick’s gift to us as a people – with its promise that when we live by God’s rules we will discover a peace and security that exceeds all that we could ever desire. We are where we are because we have forgotten whose we are and whom we are called to serve.
“I recognise the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blest whose God is the Lord.” – Abraham Lincoln.
GL