By all means, on this day lift a favorite beverage in a toast, dance and sing to the extraordinary place called Ireland and the remarkable people who inhabit it. But please, remember that it is, above all, the day celebrating the man called Patrick - taken from his home at the age of sixteen and made a slave, surviving years of base servitude by holding fast to his faith in the most trying circumstances. He risked his mortal life by escaping, walking hundreds of miles across the country until he reaches a harbor and talks his way aboard a boat, eventually reaching Britain, and home.
The trial seems to strengthen his faith and encourages him to return - return, of all things - to the land of his captivity, bringing forgiveness and God’s love. The rest you know.
The day given to Patrick, freeborn, then a slave, then free again to help others walk into the light.
Bless him.
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