"Pastor’s Comment - “The Green Missionary”

"Pastor’s Comment - “The Green Missionary”

What do we really know of St. Patrick, in who’s honor many wear green? To look around at the way,we today, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you’d think it all had to do with shamrocks, leprechauns, rainbows, and the ever-famous “pot of gold” at the end of them. But there is so much more about St. Patrick. Around 385, at about the age of 16, Patrick, a young Scottish man, was captured by Irish raiders and forced into a life of slavery. He was given the job of caring for a large flock of sheep belonging to the king. He endured much hardship and loneliness. It was during this time of enslavement, that he began to pray to the God his Christian grandfather had told him about. After six years, he escaped and returned to his family. But he felt called by God to go back to Ireland to spread Christianity to the Irish people. Therefore, after he studied in a monastery for twelve years, he returned to the land of his captivity. For thirty years he traveled the roads of Ireland to see men, women and children come to know the Christ that he loved so much. It is said that Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock in his sermons to explain the Trinity. He showed the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit could all exist separately, yet be one. That’s when Irish Christians adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock. By the time of his death, March 17, 461, he had baptized tens of thousands and established hundreds of churches, throughout Ireland. Within a century this once pagan land had become predominately Christian, possessing such a vigorous faith that Ireland in turn sent out missionaries to Scotland, England, France Germany and Belgium. Wow! What a great missionary for the Lord!"