And a happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Some of you are asking, what's he doing writing about a Catholic saint?  Well, the great split between East and West took place in 1054.  St. Patrick was born around  AD 387 and died around  AD 461, so I suppose that technically makes him an Orthodox saint.

At the age of 16 he was captured and taken from his home in Wales and then sold off as a slave in Ireland.   He tended sheep and spent much time in prayer and meditation.   Somehow he managed to escape after six years and return home.  However, in a vision God told him that he must return to Ireland to preach the gospel.  Remarkably, he did this very thing.  Imagine that, running right back to the frying pan that he had just escaped from!  He spent his life among the very people who had enslaved him,  loving them, and giving them what was most precious to him.

So, instead of thinking about  Irish pride, or the  "wearing of the green", or whatever else we of Irish descent do today, think about the faith of a real man who responded to a real call of God.