Don't forget good St. Patrick, lest we see ourselves surrounded by those snakes again!

I went to a St. Patrick's Day Parade with as much of the family as I could gather down here on the coast of Mississippi, then we went to dinner surrounded by people dressing in green and wearing beads (this is the land of Mardi Gras, after all), wearing tee-shirts that said things like "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" and "Wanna Get Lucky" and various variations of all the themes we've come to associate with St. Patrick's day - including a "pub crawl,'' the enticement to go from drinking establishment to drinking establishment (the city even closed off several blocks to make it easier for 'crawlers' to move about).
Being me, I also decided to educate myself on traditions of St. Patricks' Day, primarily that people started wearing green because leprauchans were supposed to be blind to the color green, and if they couldn't see you they couldn't "pinch" you, which in the old days meant kidnap you. Leprauchans were the bogey-man of Irish fables, not the kind of people who gave you breakfast cereal or granted wishes or any of the other happy-go-lucky attributes that the modern marketing campaign has led us to believe.
But then, I also looked up St. Patrick himself.
He was not Irish, but British. As a boy, he was captured by Irish raiders and held as a slave. He managed to escape back to Britian, where he studied and became a Catholic Priest, at which time he felt called to go back to Ireland and bring the Gospel of salvation, love and hope to his former captors. He used the Shamrock - a three-leaf clover - to explain the Trinity of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And while he is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, it is probably closer to the truth that he drove out those who were deceivers, those that twisted the truth, the human "snakes'' that have plagued us always.
Patrick died on March 17, 461 - St. Patrick's Day.
I wonder what Patrick would be doing on "his" day now. I have a feeling he'd be sad at first, then realize his work was not done, and he'd probably be out there in the midst of the revelers, with his shamrock, quietly trying to explain the love of The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit in hope of driving out the snakes that still torment us all.
To quote Patrick himself, from his "Confessions" (written around the year 450):

"I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that "all that I am," I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He himself testifies that this is so. I never would have wanted these harsh words to spill from my mouth; I am not in the habit of speaking so sharply. Yet now I am driven by the zeal of God, Christ's truth has aroused me. I speak out too for love of my neighbors who are my only sons; for them I gave up my home country, my parents and even pushing my own life to the brink of death. If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me."

That is a life worth celebrating.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"He was a terror to any snake that came in his path, whether it was the cold, slimy reptile sliding along the ground or the more dangerous snake that oppresses men through false teachings.  And he drove the snakes out of the minds of men, snakes of superstition and brutality and cruelty. " ~Arthur Brisbane

Saint Patrick was a gentleman, who through strategy and stealth
Drove all the snakes from Ireland, here's a drink to his health!
But not too many drinks, lest we lose ourselves and then
Forget the good Saint Patrick, and see them snakes again!
~Author Unknown