OPEN

BYPASS BIG TECH CENSORSHIP - SIGN UP FOR mICHAEL mATT'S REGULAR E-BLAST

Invalid Input

Invalid Input

OPEN
Search the Remnant Newspaper
Friday, March 15, 2019

SAINT PATRICK’S DAY: The ‘Lent’ of the Irish

By:   Father Ladis J. Cizik
Rate this item
(30 votes)
SAINT PATRICK’S DAY: The ‘Lent’ of the Irish

In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Today, on the Feast of Saint Patrick, we reflect upon the forty days of Lent. Instead of the ‘Luck of the Irish,’ we will be dealing with the ‘Lent’ of the Irish.

In Sacred Scripture, the number forty often signifies a period of purification that leads to new life. We are all called to enter into a forty day period of purification during Lent to help ensure that we are ready for our God-given mission that lies ahead. May the example and intercession of Saint Patrick help us along this road that leads to Heaven.

Upon consecration as a Bishop, Saint Patrick began a new life of converting pagan Ireland to Catholicism. He is associated with a mountain in County Mayo Ireland called ‘Croagh Patrick.’ Saint Patrick was said to have climbed that mountain in the 5th century and upon reaching the summit, he fasted there for forty days and forty nights in preparation for his mission. At the end of the forty days, Saint Patrick threw a silver bell from the top of the mountain to the ground below, upon which snakes, which were associated with false pagan gods, were said to have been driven from Ireland into the sea. Thousands of people climb the 2,507-foot-tall Croagh Patrick each year as a type of penitential pilgrimage. The forty days of Lent is our time to banish the evil one, often represented by a serpent, from our lives by prayer and fasting.

On Saint Patrick’s Day, public places and homes are decorated with three leaf clovers. These shamrocks were not used by Saint Patrick to represent ‘good luck.’ When Bishop Patrick went to Ireland, the entire island was occupied by pagans who believed in many false gods. So Saint Patrick taught them that there was only ONE God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Now the pagans must have protested that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost added up to THREE Gods!   Legend dictates that Bishop Patrick was inspired to bend down and pluck a single three leaf clover from the ground of the Emerald Isle. Saint Patrick held it up for all to see and no doubt said: How many clovers are in my hand? The obvious answer from the heathen must have been: ‘One.’   Then, Saint Patrick presumably would have said: ‘And so is God One! The three leaves of the clover teach that there are THREE Divine Persons in ONE God!’ With that, Ireland began the process of becoming a Catholic land and the shamrock became the symbol of the Irish, as well as the Holy Trinity. Knowing the correct doctrine, handed on to us from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, is essential to being a Catholic. It is much more than just mere ‘good luck.’

saint patrick1

In Ireland there is a famous pilgrimage site on Station Island called ‘Saint Patrick’s Purgatory.’   The doctrine of Purgatory has come under attack from Modernists, especially in recent years. Modernists don’t believe in Purgatory, as it has been taught in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church for centuries. It is said that in the 5th century, Our Lord Jesus Christ showed Saint Patrick a cave on Station Island that was said to be the entrance to Purgatory. This was an answer to Saint Patrick’s prayers, as many of the idolatrous Irish would not believe Church doctrine without substantial proof. 

Since that time, Saint Patrick’s Purgatory has been a place of pilgrimage where pilgrims once would arrive with letters of permission from a bishop and spend fifteen days fasting and praying before even stepping foot on Station Island. After those fifteen days, a short boat ride to the island would lead to going to Confession, receiving Holy Communion, and undergoing several rituals before being locked in the cave for twenty-four hours.   Upon release from the cave the next day, the pilgrim would endure another fifteen days of prayer and fasting, IF he were still alive. The cave on Saint Patrick’s Purgatory is still there, but has been closed and locked since 1632.   Pilgrims walking in bare feet still visit Saint Patrick’s Purgatory today in a spirit of prayer, fasting and penance. The current three-day program is touted by the locals in Ireland to be “the toughest in all of Europe, perhaps even in the whole Christian world.”   

Consider now making a penitential pilgrimage to some special church or shrine during Lent in a spirit of prayer and fasting. Make the Stations of the Cross on other days besides just on Friday. Especially include the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary in your daily prayers. Educate ‘Catholics In Name Only’ (CINO’s) as well as non-Catholics in the Immutable Truths of the One True Faith founded by Christ. I would also suggest increased spiritual reading, especially of the lives of the Saints and Traditional Catholic Catechisms, such as the Baltimore Catechism and the Catechism of the Council of Trent.

Do you subscribe to the oldest Catholic newspaper in the world?
print sub button ad 

Looking ahead to the remainder of Lent, the only fast day left is Good Friday.   The only days of Abstinence from meat remaining are the rest of the Fridays of Lent and Good Friday.   However, in our desire to purify our souls, especially in this penitential forty day season of Lent, we are invited to voluntarily increase our prayer, fasting and abstinence, above and beyond that which is minimally required under penalty of sin. The traditional 1962 rules for fasting include every single one of the forty penitential days from Ash Wednesday through and including Holy Saturday. Many valiantly chose to follow this time-honored regimen, which is no longer required by Church law.

Like Saint Patrick, we are today living in the midst of a largely pagan world, which rejects our One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Faith. We must prepare ourselves, like Saint Patrick, for our mission ahead to give Glory to the One True God and to bring salvation to souls.

In Nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

NOTE: This article is based on a sermon to be given by Father Cizik at a Traditional Latin Mass on the 2nd Sunday of Lent, March 17, 2019.   The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Woodlawn Council 2161 Traditional Latin Mass Guild. See further information at: https://knightsofcolumbuslatinmass.blogspot.com/2019/03/

 

[Comment Guidelines - Click to view]
Last modified on Friday, March 15, 2019