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| Image by Marnie Jill |
St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer
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A GREETING
Every day, O God, you ordain your love toward me,
and during the night you bring me your song.
(Psalm 42:8)
A READING
Like a stag, a doe,
longing for streams of cool water,
my whole being longs for you, my God.
My soul aches with thirst for God,
for a god that lives!
When can I go and see God face to face?
(Psalm 42:1-2)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
“Why so dispirited?” I ask myself. “Why so churned up inside? Hope in God!”
I know I’ll praise God once again,
for you are my Deliverance;
you are my God.
(Psalm 42:5)
A REFLECTION
I also know that often what I need is simply the energy to keep going, help to carry me along in times of tiredness, grayness, apathy, and drift. Here, in the very form of the words themselves and in the texture of the verses, I find that I am given the sense of a vibrant and life-giving force into which I can tap. The high-king might light his fire, but the fire of St. Patrick is the new fire of Easter, the new light of Christ...
The sheer physicality of the Celtic tradition is indeed one of its greatest strengths for me. Because the Celtic understanding of the incarnation is deeply physical, fleshly, this then allows me to accept more fully the idea of my own humanity as also so totally physical.
- from The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination
by Esther de Waal
THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 6)
Christ 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 when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye of every one who sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer
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| "A Legend of St. Patrick," by Briton Riviere (1877) |
There is a story about Patrick and the Breastplate Prayer which Esther de Waal tells in the book we have quoted several days in a row, "The Celtic Way of Prayer." In the story, Patrick and his community of brothers were on their way to a confrontation with the area king who was furious at Patrick for continuing to kindle a fire when all the fires had been requested to be extinghished, but the king's. Summoned to his presence in the court, the men set out, convinced they would be killed. As they walked through a woods, they recited the prayer to give themselves courage. Meanwhile, the king's men who waited to ambush them saw a mother deer and her calves passing through, instead of the monks. In another story, Patrick was drawn to a particular place to build his monastery. As he was scouting the location with others, he found a hind deer and its calf who refused to move. While the others prepared to kill it, he carried the calf on his shoulders and the hind followed him to where he released them in a woods. This is part of why Patrick is often associated with a deer and with Psalm 42 in particular.
In The Inclusive Bible version of the psalm, there is a particular emphasis on the desire for "a God who lives!" Like other psalms we have dwelled with this week, this psalm holds both despair and hope; frustration, futility -- and the eager longing for renewal. The psalm implores God to become somehow manifest in ways that are located in the body -- so that the body no longer thirsts or feels overwhelmed by a crushing wave. As Esther de Waal tells us, the Celtic tradition is to feel everything in the body, just as those who lived in the ancient world also did.
The story of the weeks before the start of the traditional Advent season is one in which we remember what Jesus' birth and death signify and hold hope in the knowledge of what the coming again of Jesus promises, which is a renewal of all things in him. Whatever rulers hold power in our own time, Jesus is the ultimate ruler: in an era when speaking truth to power means resisting self-made human kings, we hold fast to the truth that Jesus always reigns, and that building the kindom of God on earth requires following in the footsteps of the Jesus who loves justice.
As we come into the church calendar season of Advent, and continue to celebrate Celtic Advent, what are the justice issues that you most hold in your heart that you bring before the incarnate Jesus? If Christ is in all things, what does it mean to you that Christ will also become human?
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| Image by Mozzer Cork |
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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
The next devotional day will be Monday, December 1.
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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!
