Praying St. Patrick's Breastplate

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 host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

Again we arise, thanks to the providence of God. We perceive God's nearness to us in the seeming impossibility of God's invisibility made tangible via the inspirations of his grace. This is more than holy imagination, this prayer exudes certainty in the particular ways God cares for us.

This is the same shield of faith worn by the apostles, martyrs, and saints through the ages. In the next few lines St. Patrick echoes St. Paul's confidence in the face of peril, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31).

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel 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 abundance of reward.

St. Patrick's Breastplate dresses us for success, not in terms of material wealth, but for fighting the spiritual and physical battles encountered every day. God's power saves us from all we fear—defeat, discouragement, death, and the devil. When we bind ourselves to Christ, he comes against every worry and threat, real or imagined, visible or invisible. There is no escaping his carrying of our concerns, his presence in every situation.

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.

If you just skimmed over that last part in a skimming fashion, pause and reread it. It is a potent and deep reality. St. Patrick captures the very truth that we crave: The True Presence of Another—the irresistible Lover who will never leave us. It is the Christ we want to dare to know, yet do not always trust. This Christ-with-me speaks to our yearning to be known, to be seen, to be enveloped by what completes us, filling what we lack in ourselves.

This prayer utters the joy of life in Christ.

St. Patrick's Breastplate reveals the heart of what a loving disciple learns as he or she leans into the Savior's breast (Cf. Jn. 13:23, 25, 21:20)—a truth we can grasp only by hearing the beat of the Sacred Heart—that one day, an incomprehensible union or oneness will be achieved. On that day Jesus Christ will usher us into the sublime joy and fellowship of the Trinity.

The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me", says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him[Jn 14:23]." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 260)

St. Patrick's prayer, and his shamrock, point to our destiny.

The prayer ends as it began invoking the power of the Trinity, that is our beginning and our end.

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.

Amen.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, from my house to yours.