St. Patrick

At the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord we pray these words, "...Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior...." In 433, God gave Patrick an opportunity to "boldly confess." High-King Laeghaire was lighting a huge fire to begin a festival during which all the people of his realm would extinguish their fires to symbolize that the High-King was the source of light and fire. But the feast happened to begin on Holy Saturday as the Church would be lighting the paschal fire. So Patrick boldly lit the Church's fire which shone starkly in the darkness in contradistinction to the king's fire. This created quite a stir in the kingdom and no little consternation in the king who called Patrick to his court for judgment. The king's wise men saw "that unless this rival fire was put out immediately, it would flood the whole country with its light and burn until doomsday" (Ester de Wall, The Celtic Way of Prayer, p. 18). On the way to meet the king (and possibly their doom) Patrick and the other monks sang (possibly composing as they went) what we now call St. Patrick's Breastplate. Stanza VI clearly reflects the context of story:

Around me I gather:
these forces to save
my soul and my body
from dark powers that assail me:
against false prophesyings,
against pagan devisings,
against heretical lying
and false gods all around me.
Against spells cast by women,
by blacksmiths, by Druids,
against knowledge unlawful
that injures the body,
that injures the spirit.

And in spite of those daunting powers cast against him, Patrick sang of the presence of Christ and the power of the Trinity calling on the whole created order. He and his companions went to the king in the Name and Power of the true High-King.

Where do we need to be lighting our fires in the darkness?