Wearing Your Green Today?

I love St. Patrick. Who can resist a man that drives serpents out of an entire country? Not to mention a man with the courage to defy a pagan king's order not to light a fire who reacts by going to high hill where all can see the Easter light! Take that, you minions of darness! That makes him in my mind a perfect saint for Lent where his feast day always falls. He knows how to prepare us for Easter joy. Just put on the armour of God! And that brings me to St. Patrick's breastplate. Here's the portion with which most are familiar:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

But there is much more to the prayer (hymn) and you can read it here. Here's one of my favorite stanzas and one that defines the work of Les Femmes and so many apostolates fighting for the faith including my compadres at the Catholic Media Coalition:

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Let us all "bind" ourselves like St. Patrick did to the Most Holy Trinity, the "Three in One and One in Three."

And if someone says, "The top o' the mornin' to you" today, the correct response is, "And the rest o' the day to yerself." HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!