Trusting God Like St. Patrick

“Whoever gives thought to the wordwill discover good,  and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” (Proverbs 16:20)

St. Patrick is the patron saint from Rome who is credited with bringing the gospel and Christianity to Ireland land in the 4^th-5^th centuries. When he was 16 years old, he was captured by Irish pirates and forced into slavery for approximately 6 years.

When his time of slavery had ended, he felt God’s calling upon his life to go to Ireland to preach the Gospel.

At that time in history, Ireland was vastly underdeveloped with many uncivilized peoples and tribes. It was a hostile place for the Gospel. But St. Patrick’s influence was so great that some historian said about his influence on the country: “As the Roman lands went from peace to chaos, the land of Ireland was rushing even more rapidly from chaos to peace.”

How did St. Patrick do it? How was he able to bring such stability into an unstable land? Because he trusted God.

One of his prayers that we have preserved today is known as “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” and it gives us a dose of St. Patrick’s stable life. It reads, “I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me: God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s house to save me from snares of devils, from temptations of vices, from everyone who shall wise me ill. …Christ to shield me today against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, so that there may come to be abundance of reward. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ in my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise. … I arise today through a mighty strength.”

St. Patrick had a trust for God worth emulating.

How the Irish Saved Civilization, pg. 124.