St. Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Despite what we read in the papers, the day isn't really about beer. It's about the man who brought Christianity to pagan Ireland. It's about a man, kidnapped into slavery as a boy, who returned to the place of his torture to share his Faith with the people there out of love. St. Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland and this is also a day to celebrate Irish heritage. I suspect that many of the people drinking green beer and dancing in parades today have no clue about the real St. Patrick and why this day is truly important to so many people. Certainly the commercialism of Propositon 3-17 and the attempt to further corrupt the day doesn't do justice to the Irish people or the Saint. Our local paper ran a piece yesterday in which they asked local "Irish" restaurant owners some questions about St. Patrick. Their answers in some cases were laughable. However, at least one local Irish pub owner does know his Irish history.

As we're in the midst of Holy Week, the feast of St. Patrick isn't marked by the Church in the U.S. this year. Personally, we celebrated at a dinner with friends last week, and also enjoyed the celebration at the Blue & Gray brewery on Saturday. So today here's a simple toast to you St. Patrick. Sláinte!