THE SERIES The Story of Irelandcurrently being shown on RTÉ and BBC provides an interesting view of the history of this country and how it came to be over several thousand years. In his excellent commentary, Fergal Keane tells us that in the mists of antiquity we looked to a world beyond our green island and were shaped by "waves of migration and invasion". There is a suggestion that we are not as Celtic as some imagine, although our art and language bear Celtic influences.
The series encourages us to think beyond an “Ireland shrouded in cliché, of lost battles and sad songs” – insisting that our origins are much more complicated than many believe. That is particularly true of the story of Patrick, our national saint, whom we honour next Thursday.
For example the image of Patrick as a druid-destroying, snake-banishing figure is an invention, as is the claim that he used shamrock to explain the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
We know that his first experience of Ireland was as a teenage slave, but we tend to ignore the nasty truth behind that detail. Patrick was the victim of a cruel and extensive slave trade carried on by our ancestors who regularly plundered the west coast of Britain and even colonised some areas.
This is confirmed in his Confession where we read, “I was taken captive. I was at that time about 16 years of age. I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people.” Despite this unhappy experience, Patrick came back to Ireland driven by a powerful sense of God calling him to come and share the Christian faith with the people who had caused him so much suffering. He was a truly humble man, describing himself as “a sinner and the least of all Christians”.
In returning, Patrick lived the gospel he preached by forgiving those who had wronged him. There was no resentment – just a desire to share what he believed and valued with a people who needed it. This is a virtue we would do well to cultivate given our preoccupation with the past and the wrongs done to us by others over the centuries.
We diminish Patrick when we associate him too closely with narrow political views. His business here was entirely spiritual and therefore he belongs more to the church than the State. It is clear from his writings that he was single-minded in his mission to proclaim the gospel and in a relatively short period laid the foundations of a religious movement that has influence across the world to this day. One wonders what he might have to say to the people of Ireland today, tempted as many are by secular values.
Perhaps tomorrow’s Gospel reading gives us the answer. In it we are given an account of our Lord’s wilderness experience and the choices he had to make.
Jesus is tempted to question his own belief, to look after his own interests, to opt for what was popular and pleasing to people at large. It was time to forget all this God business and get on with life. These are real distractions faced by many today which are capable of drawing us away from all that Patrick stands for.
Archbishop Michael Ramsey’s definition of a saint tells us: “It is not being virtuous that makes a saint: the Pharisees were very virtuous and they and their virtues needed conversion. It is not doing good that makes a saint; he often does do good, but so do many people whom we would never call saints.
"It is not the practice of religion which makes a saint. I expect you and I are pretty religious but our religion like every part of us needs converting. No, the saint is one who has a strange nearness to God and makes God real and near to other people." That's Patrick; that's our patron saint. – GL