Homily for Solemnity of St. Patrick

Homily for the Solemnity of St. Patrick

March 18, 2024
Salesian HS, New Rochelle, N.Y.                                   

Window, St. Francis Xavier Church, Bronx

As we celebrate the solemnity of St. Patrick, patron of Ireland, one of the greatest missionaries in the long history of Christianity, and patron saint of our archdiocese, we might think about the virtues that made him great, by God’s choice and God’s grace.

Forgiveness.  As a youth Patrick was abused by being kidnapped and sold into slavery in a foreign land, where he toiled as a shepherd and swineherd for 6 years before escaping.  Not only did he forgive those who so abused him, but he even returned to them and brought them the greatest gift he had, his Catholic faith.

Patience.  Before he was ordained bishop and sent back to Ireland, Patrick was betrayed by a former friend whom he’d trusted with a grave secret.  We don’t know exactly what that was, but it seems to have been some sin or fault of his youth, which this false friend disclosed some years later, perhaps in an attempt to derail Patrick’s priestly vocation.  It hurt Patrick deeply, but with patience and faith, he went on with his life and his vocation.

Courage.  It took courage, naturally, for Patrick to venture back to the land where he’d been enslaved, and still more courage to challenge the entrenched Druid priests and the high kings of Ireland—most famously by defying a royal edict and lighting the Easter fire where it would be widely seen and enrage the king.

Faith.  Patrick was able to do all he did because of a firm belief in Christ.  He writes in his Confession, a spiritual autobiography, “I give unceasing thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing.  Today I can offer him sacrifice with confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe thru all my trials.  I can say now:  Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked thru me with such divine power?”

Forgiveness, patience, courage, and faith are virtues all of us can practice in our ordinary lives as disciples of Christ.