Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Readings of the Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Today may not be a liturgical highlight of the year, but it sure may be a social highlight for many excited to wear green, decorate with shamrocks and remember the legends of this saint. These fun and somewhat carefree aspects of celebrating St. Patrick are an unusual expression of what was apparently a life filled with challenges and struggles.

At 16, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates who took him to Ireland and sold him into slavery, forcing him into working as a shepherd and farmhand. For years he lived under a cruel master. Somehow, these conditions caused Patrick to grow in his Christian faith. It was said that he developed a strong spiritual life, praying extensively each day. Patrick eventually ran away to the shore, about 200 miles from where he was enslaved. He got on a ship that took him to safety and eventually become a strong leader, teacher and bishop.

His story is the story of the human spirit. Each person carries with them dignity and worth as they have been created, through love, by our God. Yet despite this gift many persons, just like St. Patrick, face the oppression of poverty, abuse, violence, marginalization and displacement. Patrick was able to harness a key aspect of the human person, notwithstanding his own oppression—resilience. He came to know that all was not lost, despite the darkness in which he lived for so long.  We see this concept in the Gospel selection for today as Jesus deals with the adversity of those who oppose him and his message of love. Even though He faced the unfair judgement and criticism of the authorities around him, He found the resources inside Himself and the relationship with His Father to rebound and continue in ministry.

We, staff and volunteers in the Catholic Charities network, face adversity in the very difficult mission of serving people in need, particularly during this pandemic. Yet we endure. I have been lucky to have interacted with numerous agencies in our network as they bolster their staff through resiliency building activities. Just as Jesus and St. Patrick demonstrate, adversity can be overcome by drawing on the resources we have at hand such as friendship, faith, creativity, gratitude, and kindness. Each day you, as an extension of the mission of Catholic Charities, use your own resiliency resources—your own friends, family, faith, and kindness to stay true to this work.

This season of Lent underscores the long season of quarantine and hopefully calls us, not just to focus on the adversity of sacrifice, but on the strength inside each of us to continue our work of service in solidarity with those we serve.

As we put on our green today, let us remember that we, more significantly, put on Christ and with Him, His strength and resilience leading us all to resurrection. 

Fr. Ragan Schriver is an assistant professor and directs the MSSW program at University of Tennesee, Knoxville, and is a consultant to CCUSA for strategic integration.

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