If you hadn’t noticed, today is St. Patrick’s Day, celebrated by parades, drinking stout, and eating traditional Irish foods like corned beef and cabbage. America had two major influxes of the Irish - Protestants from the north in the early 18th century and mostly Catholics from the south in the wake of the potato famine. Both claimed St. Patrick, who, if we think about it, should be the patron saint of immigration.
The wave of Irish immigrants during the 1840s were treated pretty badly, much like Latino and Haitian immigrants today. The men worked in the most menial jobs and the women and children slaved in weaving factories. Living conditions were abysmal as they also were for succeeding waves of immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
We generally don’t think about that on St. Patrick’s Day when many people wear something green. Irish immigrants fought in the Revolution, which gave the world a new vision of what society and government could be. The best way to honor the old saint, who returned to Ireland as an immigrant after escaping from enslavement to spread the Gospel is to celebrate the contributions immigrants have made to building our Nation.
Prayer for the Day
Cast away the darkness we often have in our hearts
That holds us and contains us in its prison;
May we seek wisdom of your spirit, O God,
Freeing us from our past and moving us into the future.
Illumine us with your presence and shape our response
So we live the radical equality of the Gospel preached.
In the name of the One who points the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
Thoughts for the Day
I was in the mud and the mire, then I looked up to God.
Attributed to St. Patrick, 400s.
they came to these islands and low hills
which lift up from a land where we have
set a lamp with a golden torch
on top, to remind us, here at the door:
entering through it was a promise to leave it
open behind us.
Sharon Olds, poet
Blessed be the name of the Lord, from this time and forevermore
From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations, and God’s glory is above the heavens
Who is like the Lord our God, seated on high, looking down on heaven and earth?
Psalm 111: 1-6