St. Patrick's Day

An Irish Prayer

St. Patrick

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I think we've all heard or read this prayer somewhere.  It's usually scrawled over the doorway in every Irish Pub in America.  Some people have it on a sign over the fireplace, others in picture frames on the wall.

When we read it, we think of the Irish, and St. Patrick.

Saint Patrick's Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig (The Festival of Patrick) is celebrated on March 17 as both a cultural and religious. It commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland), the Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church.

Saint Patrick's Day was made an official feast day in the early seventeenth century, and has gradually become a celebration of Irish culture in general. The day is generally characterized by wearing of green attire and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating, and drinking alcohol.

Today, St. Patrick's Day is probably the most widely celebrated saint's day in the world.

Here is a prayer from St. Patrick's breastplate:

Christ be with me
Christ before me
Christ behind me
Christ in me
Christ beneath me
Christ above me
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ where I lie
Christ where I sit
Christ where I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me Salvation is of the Lord.