St. Patrick, Five Songs and Three Books for a Pilgrimage (It Begins)

At 3:00 P.M. today, St. Patrick’s Feast Day (appropriate, considering he was a Sick Pilgrim himself), I start my pilgrimage west with my kids. I’ve always loved St. Patrick and the Irish peregrini (casting themselves off in a boat and letting God direct their location). But, also, its my eldest’s birthday, and he shares a middle name with the great saint.

I’ll drive to St. Louis, sleep for a few hours, pick them up at 3:00 in the morning (because I want them to sleep, duh) and then no stopping until we hit the mountains. I’m filled with excitement, fear, nervousness and a hope it’ll be a trip we’ll always remember. And, I’m praying that God shows up….

As I wrote in The Misadventures of a Pilgrim Dad, we will be stopping at some holy places along the way. But, I wanted to go deeper through the music we will listen to and the books I’ll be sharing with them along the way. Don’t worry, this trip isn’t going to be an ultra serious spiritual quest. We’re gonna have some fun, and that’s holy too.

The Music 

I can’t possibly share every song I have on my playlist, but I picked five that really capture the spirit of this trip.

Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix

Many people find this version of the Star Spangled Banner by Jimi Hendrix to be “disrespectful.”  In reality, Hendrix captured the entire American story in four minutes. Part of the song is a train wreck, violent, with stabbing guitar licks. This represents the terror and horror that my country has often inflicted on the world. Yet, in other parts of the song, Hendrix plays with such throat tightening beauty, invoking the freedom, hope, and the promise America dashed across the landscape of the planet. The reality is, we are all those things, a bi-polar hot mess that will sometimes give you a loving embrace and other times stab you in the neck.

I want my children to know both, so they can understand.

Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois by Sufjan Stevens

This song is all about mystery. Stevens used a genuine UFO sighting in Highland, Illinois to contemplate the beauty of the Trinity. Now, that’s my kind of songwriting. Further, we are going out West, where UFO weirdness seems to roam, so it seemed like a great song to put on this list. As we travel, we’re gonna encounter a lot of mystery. I hope that it leads my kids deeper and further in.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for By U2

Really, is this not the ideal pilgrim song? Sin, redemption, wandering away and then coming back. It’s all here. This song shows the ups and downs of trying to walk with Our Lord. Plus, this versions adds a real life African American Gospel choir.

Redemption by Johnny Cash

Really, can you have an American Road Trip/Pilgrimage without a Johnny Cash song? His songs of sin, redemption, sex, murder, violence and grace are required listening for anyone who wants to use the American landscape for spiritual reflection. This song is one of his most beautiful and raw expressions of his faith. And, if he were ever eligible for sainthood, he would probably be the Sick Pilgrim’s patron saint. This man lived life and found redemption in the end.

My Weakness by Moby

I first heard this song on an X-Files episode and was struck by it’s beauty. For the album Play, Moby used old recordings of southern spirituals as a backdrop for his own brand of electronica. The result is lush, beautiful and reflective. This song’s constant refrain, Oh Lord, Be With Me in My Weakness, reaches its crescendo with ethereal African American voices in the background washed in an angelic sounding organ. On one of my many trips west, this song played when I crossed the Arizona/New Mexico border. The sun hit the red rocks and they blazed like Pentecostal fire. I’m sure I stepped over the threshold into the unseen world.

For Fun and In Memory Of….

Moonage Daydream By David Bowie

RIP, David Bowie, a true sick pilgrim. My kids love the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. And, this is one of their favorite songs. I’m sure this soundtrack will get played a lot on our trip.

The Books

Centennial by James Michener

I wrote about this book on Tuesday’s post about the things keeping us alive. This book is a fantastic, fictional picture of how the West came into being. What I love about Michener is that he understands humanity better than most so-called literary fiction that I’ve read. He presents people as they are, beautiful messes. And, I’m going to use his book to discuss with my kids about how we almost exterminated the Native Americans and the complicated nature of good things.

Sacred Space (Daily Reflections from the Apostleship of Prayer)

Full disclosure, this book is published by my employer, Ave Maria Press. It’s written by the good folks at the Apostleship of Prayer, who are great friends of the Sick Pilgrim blog. If you don’t know, they are the Pope’s personal prayer group. However, it is a fantastic devotional for pilgrims, especially if you have wee pilgrims. It’s short,  using the Gospel reading of the day as the key piece of reflection. It invites you to imagine yourself with Jesus and think about what that means for your daily life. I’ll be using this with my kids every morning.

Laudato Si  and Dear Pope Francis by Pope Francis

Contrary to the absurd media coverage of this encyclical (both right and left), it says NOTHING that the church has not said a million times before: that is, we have been commanded by God to take care of the world. It’s our “one job” and Pope Francis points out how we are failing at it. Miserably. He uses good, sound theology to motivate Catholics and Christians everywhere to start obeying God when it comes to creation. I’ll be using his words as we walk through the National Parks and the wilds of the west.

As for his children’s book, I wrote this review of Dear Pope Francis that explains why it’s going with us on our trip.

Patron Saint of our journey: St. Patrick

Who was St. Patrick? He was a spiritual bad ass, that’s who he was. This is a guy who lived a crazy youth, kidnapped by Irish pirates, worked as a slave, escaped naked and then returned to those people to teach them about Our Lord. He started a whole movement of Irish missionaries who were spiritual bad asses, traveling to the crazy places of the world while preserving Western culture.

Here is his prayer, called The Breastplate, which we’ll be praying on our trip for protection….

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.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.

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 shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my 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 witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an 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 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 everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

[Note that people sometimes pray a shorter version of this prayer just with these 15 lines about Christ above. The conclusion follows below.]

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.