My grandchildren asked about St. Patrick today. I thought it would be fun to look up some information. After all... what do I know about St. Patrick?
1. When St. Patrick was sixteen, he was captured in Britain by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland.
2. During his captivity in Ireland he spent six bleak years as a herdsman. It was then he turned with fervour to his faith.
3. He experienced a dream in which he heard that a ship, in which to escape, was ready for him. He believe this guidance. Soon after, he fled his master and found passage to Britain.
4. Once in Britain things still didn't go well. He came near starvation and suffered a second brief captivity before he was reunited with his family.
5. St. Patrick wrote his spiritual autobiography, Confessio, which tells about another dream he experienced.
6. In this second dream he said "The Voice of the Irish" summoned him.
7. He waivered in going back to Ireland believing he was not equipped enough for the work to be done.
8. St. Patrick finally decided to obey the call even though he lived afterward in constant danger of martyrdom.
9. With his great faith in his Maker St. Patrick journeyed far, baptizing with untiring zeal still under extreme danger in Ireland.
10. St. Patrick is known not only for his spiritual work in Ireland but also as a religious diarist who bared his inmost soul.
So what jumps out at me through all of this information? I have to say that which I placed in italics. His dreams. The spiritual guidance he received in dreams is fascinating to me. In an age and place where our worldview often disregards even the possibility of dreams as a form of communication from above... this grabs me! Most of the time we toss it aside. I've heard it said,
"Oh, it's your subconscious." Or "Oh, it's just a bit of undone potato. An undigested bit of beef!"
I think there's maybe food for thought here. Pardon the pun! Maybe if we were open to dreams as means of communication, we would be like some of the people I know, who finally get a cellular phone. They often tell me, " I used to miss so many calls. How did I ever do without one?" But why should anyone give us a call on a cellular phone if we don't even own one?
Just a thought.
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