“One should proceed without holding back from danger to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God’s name everywhere with confidence and without fear” (Confessio 14).
The fact that we have the Confessio of St Patrick is a real blessing. It not only reveals to us the human and spiritual stature of our patron and apostle, it also provides us with a particular inspiration for the apostolic mission in Ireland today. Specifically the way in which St Patrick responded to difficulties in the apostolate, including the evil and injustice he suffered, can be an encouragement to us in the new evangelisation here and now.
Responding to evil with goodness
It is worth reflecting on the fact that Patrick decided to return to Ireland and give his life for the evangelisation of a country where he had suffered so much. It would have been very understandable if he had worked for the Church in some other place after what he had been through in Ireland and what he would go through in his mission here. He might well have decided to leave the heathen Irish to their own devices.
Patrick himself tells us why he returned: “I testify in truthfulness and gladness of heart before God and his holy angels that I never had any reason, except the Gospel and his promises, ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with difficulty” (Confessio 61).
The apostle responds to the evil he has experienced and suffered with self-giving love. He follows St Paul’s advice to the Romans: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (12:21).
The temptation of negativity
The example of the apostle is perhaps not without relevance in contemporary Ireland. There may be a temptation in post-abortion-referendum Ireland for Christians to mentally recoil or to abandon the secularised Irish to their own chosen state, or even to feel justified in judging and condemning certain individuals. The temptation may be there to play the blame-game, or to give in to sterile lament about what could or should have been. When history seems to go against us we can easily be tempted to “play God”.
Like all temptations these too are to be rejected with the help of divine grace. The Christian response to objective evil and moral degeneracy is not a dispiriting and fulminating condemnation of other persons but a greater commitment to personal holiness and to the apostolic mission.
Not a disaster but a new beginning
Without ceasing to work for the true, the good and the beautiful, it is not for us to judge others but rather recommit ourselves to the service of the Gospel of life. Thus the moral crises of our times become providential opportunities for a new growth in our own Christian life and hence in the Church as a whole. What seems to be only a disaster is in fact the opportunity for a new springtime.
As St Josemaría put it: “We shall not call injustice justice; we shall not say that an offence against God is not an offence against God, or that evil is good. When confronted by evil we shall not reply with another evil, but rather with sound doctrine and good actions: drowning evil in an abundance of good. That’s how Christ will reign in our souls and in the souls of the people around us.”
An ever increasing love for people
St Patrick teaches us this fundamental Christian attitude which is always positive, apostolic and full of hope. In spite of his innumerable trials and the opposition he suffered on all sides (cf. Confessio 35), his love for the Irish is expressed in his unstinting dedication to them in spite of often feeling alone or misunderstood. As Pope St Paul VI taught: “The work of evangelisation presupposes in the evangeliser an ever increasing love for those whom he is evangelising.”
While on the Irish mission Patrick longed to go and to visit family and friends both in Britain and in Gaul (Confessio 43), but he sacrificed those very legitimate desires for love of his adoptive people and ends his testimony with the touching prayer: “May it never befall me to be separated by my God from his people whom he has won in this most remote land” (Confessio 58).
Perseverance in the apostolate
At times we may feel alone or marginalised in witnessing to the Faith. We may feel that others do not understand the language we use when we speak of Christ, or indeed that many are unwilling even to listen to anything other than the consensus-creed of contemporary materialist “orthodoxy”.
Such situations are nothing new in the history of the Church and Patrick encountered them in his time. As the Holy Father encouraged us recently in the Phoenix Park: “Of course, there will always be people who resist the Good News, who ‘murmur’ at its ‘hard words’…. May we never be swayed or discouraged by the icy stare of indifference or the stormy winds of hostility.” Patrick’s example of determined love, even towards those who seemed resolutely impervious to the “Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1), can speak powerfully to us.
Constant prayer for souls
In Evangelii Gaudium (281) the Holy Father teaches that “one form of prayer moves us particularly to take up the task of evangelisation and to seek the good of others: it is the prayer of intercession.” Patrick’s prayer for the Irish informs his entire Confessio and his entire life.
The mainstay of our apostolic effort will always be prayer for people, which we can do anywhere and everywhere at any and all times. In so far as our intention is to live as an apostle of Christ our very breathing becomes a prayer for souls. In this perspective, spreading the Faith is not an onerous or impossible task but rather a way of being which means loving God and others in and through our ordinary daily life.
Positive, apostolic reparation
We know that Patrick was not blind to injustice or sin. In fact they affected him deeply. What was his reaction to evil? A committed life of evangelisation.
Making reparation is not a negative task. The Lord calls us to make a constructive apostolic reparation with serene and joyful hearts. I am reminded of a young man who used the “Yes” (to abortion) posters as a stimulus to pray for vocations. When he saw a “Yes” poster, it reminded him to pray that many people would say “Yes!” to Christ’s call.
Difficulties are opportunities
Obstacles to the apostolate can become a fruitful means of spreading the Gospel. It was precisely by his Cross that the Lord brought about the salvation of the world. So too sufferings faced in the work of evangelisation can themselves become a living prayer and a sacrifice offered to the Lord for the sake of the harvest.
St Patrick knew how to turn his sufferings to good account. It was precisely in bad times that he received great graces: “I ought not to conceal God’s gift which he lavished on us in the land of my captivity, for then I sought him resolutely, and I found him there” (Confessio 33).
The Christian grows in the face of difficulties. The devil may well wish for the faithful to submit, to go into their shell, to step back, to feel powerless. For the apostle, difficulties are not obstacles but opportunities. Like St Patrick, if we do what we can with a generous heart the Lord, with Mary’s intercession, will turn our water into finest wine (cf. Jn 2:1-11).
God is faithful to his promises
Besides all this God is always faithful. Patrick leads us in faith and urges us to act accordingly: “I wish then to wait for his promise which is never unfulfilled, just as it is promised in the Gospel: ‘Many shall come from east to west and shall sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.’ Just as we believe that believers will come from all the world. So for that reason one should, in fact, fish well and diligently, just as the Lord foretells and teaches, saying, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’… So it behoves us to spread our nets, that a vast multitude and throng might be caught for God” (Confessio 40).
Onwards! Offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ!
St Patrick teaches us by his words and inspires us by his life. Moreover he accompanies us here and now in our apostolic effort, “for all who are in Christ, having His Spirit, form one Church and cleave together in Him”.
The love and zeal of St Patrick are with us today as much as ever, along with his powerful intercession before God. So “let us go forth, then, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ.”
1 St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is passing by 182.
2 St Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8 December 1975.
3 Francis, Homily, Phoenix Park, Dublin, 26 August 2018.
4 Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964, 49.
5 Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 24 November 2013, 49.
About the Author: Rev. Donncha Ó hAodha
Rev. Donncha Ó hAodha is a priest of the Opus Dei Prelature, author of several CTS booklets and a regular contributor to Position Papers.