St Patrick's Day!!
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Location: Ireland
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St Patrick's Day!!
St Patrick’s Day?!!
The conundrum of tradition and reality, the tradition of doing what we have always done, why change? why detour from the agenda? why not stick to the usual plan? verses the reality, damaging our health, waking up with regrets, worries, opening the flood gate of anxiety, what did we do? what did we say? where did that bruise on my arm come from? why does my chest and stomach hurt?!!
St Patrick, they say was from either England or Wales, no one can clarify for definite which, many go with Wales but who’s to say, the agreed location is definitely somewhere other than Ireland, he was not Irish, he came form another land.
He became a symbol for Irish Christianity, preaching to those that followed and worshipped Pagan gods, he soon started to convert and spread Christianity with great vigor.
As a 4yr old child I would wake up on St Patrick’s day morning, I didn’t have to go to school, it was a national holiday, St Patrick as legend tells it, used the Shamrock to explain the Trinity, the father, son and holy spirit made up the Christian god, three parts made up one, as did the 3 leaves of the Shamrock make up the one plant, it was an analogy that would become iconic within Irish life. So it was that everyone would pin a bunch of Shamrocks to their coat jackets as they attended mass to celebrate the bringing of Christianity to the island of Ireland.
But somewhere along the line the meaning became something else, drinking at some point became the focus of the day, and with it families would occupy bars all day long, drink after drink, hour after hour, a celebration of a faith lost in the settling of a Guinness.
This will be my first Sober St Patrick’s day since I was that young child going to mass, I almost feel a sense of joy that I can experience and focus on the true meaning of St Patrick’s day once again.
Special occasions throughout the year are not an excuse to drink, we can’t simply say, this is what I always do so I drank, how much do you value your Sobriety I say, we need to face the reality of living a Sober life amongst these inevitable occasions.
Are we not made up of more than one part, we surely have more to give than drinking our lives away, just like the shamrock, we are made of many parts, and we can make the decision to put alcohol behind us and contribute to life the other parts of who we really are. Life has a lot more to offer than wasting away inside a bottle!
St Patrick, the man himself, once said:
I place all Heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And fire with all the strength it hath,
And lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness
All these I place,
By God's almighty help and grace,
Between myself and the powers of darkness
Let's not let St Patrick, the man himself, down!!
The conundrum of tradition and reality, the tradition of doing what we have always done, why change? why detour from the agenda? why not stick to the usual plan? verses the reality, damaging our health, waking up with regrets, worries, opening the flood gate of anxiety, what did we do? what did we say? where did that bruise on my arm come from? why does my chest and stomach hurt?!!
St Patrick, they say was from either England or Wales, no one can clarify for definite which, many go with Wales but who’s to say, the agreed location is definitely somewhere other than Ireland, he was not Irish, he came form another land.
He became a symbol for Irish Christianity, preaching to those that followed and worshipped Pagan gods, he soon started to convert and spread Christianity with great vigor.
As a 4yr old child I would wake up on St Patrick’s day morning, I didn’t have to go to school, it was a national holiday, St Patrick as legend tells it, used the Shamrock to explain the Trinity, the father, son and holy spirit made up the Christian god, three parts made up one, as did the 3 leaves of the Shamrock make up the one plant, it was an analogy that would become iconic within Irish life. So it was that everyone would pin a bunch of Shamrocks to their coat jackets as they attended mass to celebrate the bringing of Christianity to the island of Ireland.
But somewhere along the line the meaning became something else, drinking at some point became the focus of the day, and with it families would occupy bars all day long, drink after drink, hour after hour, a celebration of a faith lost in the settling of a Guinness.
This will be my first Sober St Patrick’s day since I was that young child going to mass, I almost feel a sense of joy that I can experience and focus on the true meaning of St Patrick’s day once again.
Special occasions throughout the year are not an excuse to drink, we can’t simply say, this is what I always do so I drank, how much do you value your Sobriety I say, we need to face the reality of living a Sober life amongst these inevitable occasions.
Are we not made up of more than one part, we surely have more to give than drinking our lives away, just like the shamrock, we are made of many parts, and we can make the decision to put alcohol behind us and contribute to life the other parts of who we really are. Life has a lot more to offer than wasting away inside a bottle!
St Patrick, the man himself, once said:
I place all Heaven with its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And fire with all the strength it hath,
And lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness
All these I place,
By God's almighty help and grace,
Between myself and the powers of darkness
Let's not let St Patrick, the man himself, down!!
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: London, United Kingdom
Posts: 273
Originally Posted by purpleknight 
Let's not let St Patrick, the man himself, down!!
Thank-you for your take on it, so very true!
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: New England, USA
Posts: 3,958
Originally Posted by purpleknight
This will be my first Sober St Patrick’s day since I was that young child going to mass, I almost feel a sense of joy that I can experience and focus on the true meaning of St Patrick’s day once again.
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