Lent Day 28: Prayer | Creation Care + St. Patrick

For our Saturday Prayers, we combine St Patrick's Breastplate with a prayer exercise.

This week, St Patrick's feast day is celebrated, honoring a former slave, oppressed and kidnapped. He was a trafficking victim who was used for forced labor for seven years (see our trafficking prevention content from Day 5 – Day 10 HERE).

The subsequent year, after escaping his enslavers, he suffered near starvation (see our food insecurity reflections from Day 11 – Day16 HERE).

When he returned to Ireland as a priest, he engaged Irish culture with winsomeness and persistence. He held to the integrity of the gospel without bifurcating word and deed. He engaged all sectors of society, always caring for the poor and marginalized, while challenging and winning over those in power. Creation was constantly seen as the “book of God” from which to illustrate God’s love and who Christ is.

"Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?"

Augustine

There are many ways to sing this poem below, called "St. Patrick’s Breastplate." For today, would you pray the words of this hymn over the vulnerable in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.? Change the language at times from "us" to "them" as appropriate. We pray for:

Families and communities suffering from chemical pollution in the water, in the air, in the soil.
Individuals who didn’t have a sufficient enough social and financial net to catch them after a natural disaster.
The urban poor who have yet to experience the fierceness of the ocean and its soothing waves or the calm of a forest, and the healing peace of natural beauty and quiet.
Those who live under airplane flight paths and next to railroads and highways, as noise pollution has been shown to compromise health and wellness, to stress the body, and to block the nervous system’s ability to rest.

AND

Pray for God to help us as parishes, small groups, and individuals to cultivate a flourishing natural world in our cities and towns. We can help knit the fabric of God’s ecosystems and strengthen the interdependence between humans and flora and fauna in which he and we delight.

Note: St. Patrick's prayer is not meant to be read quietly in one's mind. It is meant to be prayed loudly and with intercessory force.

The Prayer of St. Patrick (5th century)

We arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

We arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

We arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

We arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

We arise today
Through God's strength to pilot us;
God's might to uphold us,
God's wisdom to guide us,
God's eye to look before us,
God's ear to hear us,
God's word to speak for us,
God's hand to guard us,
God's way to lie before us,
God's shield to protect us,
God's hosts to save us
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires us ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

We summon today all these powers between us and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes our body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ shield us today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with us, Christ before us, Christ behind us,
Christ in us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us,
Christ on our right, Christ on our left,
Christ when we lie down, Christ when we sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of us,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of us,
Christ in the eye that sees us,
Christ in the ear that hears us.

We arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

After praying, listen to this beautiful version of this poem. Dr. Eugene Peterson was known for beginning every one of his seminary classes with the students singing this hymn of St Patrick.