By Susan Ciancio
On St. Patrick’s Day, we celebrate one of the Catholic Church’s most well-known missionaries. Saint Patrick didn’t just bring Christianity to Ireland, he showed extraordinary courage and compassion in doing so, for after being kidnapped and enslaved there as a young man, he made the choice to go back, preach the gospel, and convert hearts and minds for Christ. St. Patrick’s powerful witness makes his story the perfect opportunity to talk with your kids about moral courage, about forgiveness, and about what it means to share our faith. And our free mini-lesson booklet can help!
A reliance on God
St. Patrick was born in the late 300s in Britain, but at the age of 16, he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland, where he was forced to work as a slave and herd sheep. He spent many long hours in the fields, often suffering from the cold. You can imagine that the natural response might have been anger and bitterness. And likely he was scared and did feel angry at times. But instead of allowing those feelings and thoughts to consume him, he turned to our Lord. Patrick began to pray, nurturing his relationship with God and strengthening his own faith.
After six long years, he escaped. You might think that a young man escaping from slavery might decide to go a bit wild and live the life he felt he had been deprived of. But Patrick had a missionary heart. He returned to England, where he studied to become a priest.
And he never forgot the dream he had as a young man where young children were reaching out to him. He felt that dream meant that he should teach.
Many years after becoming a priest, he returned to Ireland with a fire in his heart to convert the pagans there, and the spent the rest of his life preaching about God, writing, and converting thousands.
Today, Patrick’s clear yet simple way of explaining the faith can serve as an important guide for us as we go about our lives and encounter the “pagans” of our world. Those we face may not be the pagans of seventeen hundred years ago, but we do constantly face those who have no faith or who misunderstand or misconstrue Jesus’ teaching. And it is our responsibility to live our faith openly and proudly, just like St. Patrick.
Evangelizing
The world desperately needs the faithful evangelization of tomorrow’s saints. Through good and holy examples, we can help our children build that foundation of love of our faith, of moral courage, and of compassion for the well-being of others.
Patrick’s example illustrates the beauty of forgiveness and teaches us that we can accomplish great things when we live our lives with the goal of getting to heaven. As parents, that should be our goal for our children as well.
Yet it’s not just a goal we should have for our families and ourselves. When the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus’ disciples, He charged them with evangelizing to the world. He has charged us with the same, so we must also do our best to help our friends and neighbors get to heaven. That’s the key to evangelization. St. Patrick embodied this missionary spirit, and we can use his example to bring others to Christ.
As we approach St. Patrick’s Day, let us look at the people in our lives who need our missionary spirit, our forgiveness, our compassion, and our love, and let us resolve to use our voices and actions to foster a culture of life where all people feel valued and where they come to understand their immense worth.
St. Patrick saw the inherent value in all those around him, and he never wavered in his desire to teach the faith. Let us strive to become more like him and to shine the light of Christ through all that we do.
Download our free mini-lesson booklet today to teach your kids about St. Patrick. Then have them decorate the awesome enclosed bookmark so they can think about St. Patrick throughout the year.