Tomorrow, every person of Irish descent and those who wish to be Irish, at least for a day, celebrate the great saint of Ireland, Patrick, and all that it means to be Irish. Being Irish is one of the characteristics of my life that I’ve known as long as I’ve known my last name. Growing up, I remember my father often saying to his eight children, “Remember, you’re a Loughran, you’re Irish and you’re Catholic.” My family’s life centered on those three intertwined identities.
Many things are associated with the Irish, some fun and inspirational, some not so much. I remember a request to bless the Saint Joseph table at a local Italian restaurant in my parish on the feast of Saint Joseph. A friend introduced me to the grandmother, owner, and matriarch of the family and she asked about the nationality of my name. I told her I was Irish, and she immediately asked, “Why do you people drink so much? What’s your problem?” I was surprised and offended but able to hold my tongue. It wasn’t easy!
There are many beautiful things about Irish culture, history and spirituality worth celebrating. As a Catholic, I recognize that ancient Celtic spirituality influenced the expression of Catholicism in Ireland. One aspect of Celtic spirituality is described well by the great spiritual writer Esther De Waal, “The Celtic approach to God opens up a world in which nothing is too common to be exalted and nothing is so exalted that it cannot be made common. They believed that the presence of God infuses daily life and thus transforms it so that at any moment, any object, any job, can become a place for an encounter with God. In everyday happenings and ordinary ways, we have prayers for getting up, lighting the fire, getting dressed, milking the cow… their holistic approach to life was expressed daily in the real incarnational ordinariness of life. There was no false divide between the sacred and secular.”
Celtic spirituality welcomed and informed the Catholic notion of sacramentality, as in meeting the divine in the ordinariness of bread and wine, water washing away Original Sin, uniting the baptized with the body of Christ, etc.
Saint Francis de Sales also captured this holistic approach to life. From early childhood, he was a keen observer of nature and his writings express his wonder and insights into God he found in all creation. His mother instructed him to see nature as “the great picture book of God.” He saw a world of symbols in nature, which elevated him to the Creator. He wrote, “The world is a great stage on which God displays His many wonders.” (The Spirit of St. Francis de Sales, XIX 3)
An Irish Blessing for You and Yours this Holy Day
Bless this house and those within.
Bless our giving and receiving.
Bless our words and conversation.
Bless our hands and recreation.
Bless our sowing and our growing.
Bless our coming and our going.
Bless all who enter and depart.
Bless this house, your peace impart.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Father Jack Loughran, OSFS
Provincial
Toledo-Detroit Province
