This week, throughout the world, people will be celebrating the feast day of Saint Patrick, marked by different cultural practices from the way we dress to the things we eat and drink.
In the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, special celebrations will be held in Anadarko, Oklahoma City and Walters at the three parishes named for the patron saint of Ireland.
As part of our recognition of this famous – and now very secularized – feast day, it is important to remember the significance of the life of Saint Patrick, most especially his example as a missionary disciple. Saint Patrick’s life provides a role model for how we are to live, always striving to do God’s will and preaching the Gospel to those around us.
Saint Patrick was born in Scotland in 387, a Roman British citizen by birth. His father was a deacon and his mother was a relative of Saint Martin of Tours. When Patrick was 15, he was taken captive by marauders and sold into slavery in Ireland, where he spent six years tending the flocks of his master.
It was during this time of slavery that Patrick developed a deep and abiding faith. This was truly a providential period that led him to an understanding of the Celtic language and Druidism, which was the predominant pagan culture in Ireland at the time. It was to members of this ancient Celtic culture that Saint Patrick would ultimately bring the Gospel.
After escaping from slavery and returning home to Scotland, Saint Patrick discovered his vocation to the priesthood. Eventually, he returned to Ireland where he dedicated his days to evangelizing the pagan people.
As expected, Saint Patrick’s evangelization efforts were met with immediate, forceful opposition from the druidic people, but he persisted. Through Saint Patrick’s tireless apostolic work, the people of Ireland came to know the Lord and established Ireland firmly in Catholicism.
This apostolic zeal and persistence are common threads among many of our most beloved saints, including Oklahoma’s Blessed Stanley Rother. Like Saint Patrick, Blessed Stanley thrived in a missionary environment away from his homeland, preaching the Gospel in a new language and under the threat of persecution. He worked tirelessly to bring the Gospel and a sense of dignity to the people of Santiago Atitlan and Cerro de Oro, giving his life for his people and for his faith.
The example of these men is important for us today as we attempt to navigate a society that can be hostile, at times openly so, to the teachings of Jesus and the Church.
The secular world will celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day while at the same time defying the Truth that Saint Patrick so boldly and lovingly proclaimed to the people of Ireland. As Catholics, we are called to be missionary disciples who faithfully proclaim the Word of God, to find the strength to faithfully preach the Gospel to the people of our time and world. We must remain faithful to the mission of the Church that we all share by virtue of our Baptism.
Through our own apostolic zeal, and with the intercession of Saint Patrick and Blessed Stanley, I pray that we use this time of celebration during Lent to help people come to know Saint Patrick, and appreciate and emulate his life of service and devotion to preaching the Gospel.