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Okay, I love this holiday. St Patrick was a warrior, sent into a raging pagan country to bring a Gospel of Life and Freedom. He gave the Irish a Story that put all other stories in context; he gave a passionate people a Gospel of the heart. He captured their love of nature and helped them see the Creator's heart. He understood the spiritual battle, and equipped them to fight it. Instead of leprechauns and shamrocks, I give to you today the "Daily Prayer" of St Patrick:

St. Patrick's Breastplate

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness

Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,

Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,

Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,

Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today

Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In the service of archangels,

In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In prayers of patriarchs,

In predictions of prophets,

In preaching of apostles,

In faith of confessors,

In innocence of holy virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through God’s strength to pilot me:

God’s might to uphold me,

God’s wisdom to guide me,

God’s eye to look before me,

God’s ear to hear me,

God’s word to speak for me,

God’s hand to guard me,

God’s way to lie before me,

God’s shield to protect me,

God’s host to save me

From snares of devils,

From temptations of vices,

From everyone who shall wish me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,

Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.

Christ to shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the threeness,

Through confession of the oneness,

Of the Creator of Creation.

Stasi's Blog

Body, Soul and Spirit!

The pace and the demands and the cares of life really seem too much for a person to handle; too much for me to handle. At least to handle well. Is this a new development, the fruit of living in a high tech, instant messaging, be connected with everyone, take the freeway, drive thru, microwave world? Or is this a fact of the human condition?.

Both I think.

We need Jesus. People need God. We always have. We always will.

The pace and demands and cares of my life keep me from staying current with friends, bills, blogging, laundry and toilet paper. Yay that God is always, ALWAYS present and current and more than enough for all of us.

I’ve been thinking about so many things lately, it’s hard to choose what to write about!

How about the importance of realizing that we are body, soul and spirit. Each part matters. Intrinsically. Deeply. To God. To us. When we as people focus on one aspect as being much more important than another, we get stuck, we miss out, we get out of whack. Which means that we are usually, to some extent, always out of whack. Because we are continuing to grow in our wisdom and understanding and that is a very good thing! So hooray for grace. For ourselves. For others. There is mercy.

Some in Christianity focus primarily on the soul. To the neglect of the spirit. Some in Christianity focus on the spirit to the extent that they diminish the soul. Some focus primarily on the body – and really get into trouble.

Our bodies are vitally important. They are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are God’s instrument of choice to bring himself. Our bodies matter! Our health matters. Our vitality, our strength, our rest, our taking care of ourselves. Our bodies are a great gift to us!

Our souls matter. Our personalities and style of relating and emotions and minds and wills. God is transforming us. We want to cooperate here! We need to be self aware which is quite different from being self absorbed. God loves people. He likes variety and gave us emotions and laughter and love and desire and the ability to seek him. Our emotions are not meant to rule us nor torment us but they are a part of us! I like being happy much more than I like being sad but I wouldn’t give one up for the other. We are alive! This is the realm of friendship and relationships and the working out of our salvation! Does not God care immeasurably about these things? We do not want to neglect our souls!

The spirit is where we are most connected to God in the Heavenly realms! We hear the voice of God, feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit, worship, pray, experience his presence and power in and through our spirits! We live in the natural realm but we live in the spiritual realm as well. The spiritual realm is the eternal one! The battle we are in is a spiritual one. Our spirits need to be quickened, awakened to the constant presence of the Holy Spirit – so that we can bring the Kingdom of God to this world of ours! How vitally important is that?

Oh, there are many books to be read and written on this. We are an odd people, we humans. We are mysteriously made. Wonderfully. Beautifully. And God does not despise our humanity. He loves it. All of it.