Psalm 56: A Proper Toast to St Patrick ...

We are told that the young Patrick was kidnapped from his home in Britain and brought to Ireland where he was sold into slavery.  In time he escaped and made his way home.  Then, called by God, he returned to the land where he had lived in captivity to share the Good News.  Today, a lot of people, Irish and not, are going to hoist more than a few pints, ostensibly in the saint's honor.  A better way to salute this great figure of the early church, this man who embodied forgiveness and courage, faith and fortitude, is to reflect on what God in Christ meant to him that he could move back to the land and people where and among whom he had suffered so.  Psalm 56 gives a sense of the strength that one may draw from God when facing adversaries, just as the Gospels give us a hope of how adversaries may be turned to friends in Christ.

This day, let's offer a prayer in honor of, not a toast to, St Patrick, giving thanks for the example he sets for us to this day.

1  Have mercy on me, O God,
for my enemies are hounding me; *
all day long they assault and oppress me.
2  They hound me all the day long; *
truly there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
3  Whenever I am afraid, *
I will put my trust in you.
4  In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust and will not be afraid, *
for what can flesh do to me?
5  All day long they damage my cause; *
their only thought is to do me evil.
6  They band together; they lie in wait; *
they spy upon my footsteps;
because they seek my life.
7  Shall they escape despite their wickedness? *
O God, in your anger, cast down the peoples.
8  You have noted my lamentation;
put my tears into your bottle; *
are they not recorded in your book?
9  Whenever I call upon you, my enemies will be put to flight; *
this I know, for God is on my side.
10  In God the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God I trust and will not be afraid, *
for what can mortals do to me?
11  I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; *
I will present to you thank-offerings;
12  For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, *
that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

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