What’s Luck Got to Do, Got to Do With It?

Happy Saint Patty‘s Sunday. Will you acknowledge it by wearing something green today? Will you be in the crowd that commemorates this day with a pint of Guinness, some corned beef and some cabbage? 🙋🏻‍♀️

This past Friday at work our Institutional Research expert mentioned that she’d dressed her young son in a green outfit for preschool that day then added that she also put him in green underwear because, “it seemed like a good idea, and you just never know. . .” Hmmmm, I suppose she has a point there.

I have some Irish DNA in my veins and hope to return again to visit one day. On vacation there with family I found that the Irish love their lore and tall tales. It should come as no surprise then that the story of Saint Patrick leading all the snakes away from the Emerald Isle (a place that has never been inhabited by snakes anyway) is pure legend. His real story has been forgotten but is just as relevant today as it was in 425 AD. He basically became an indentured slave at the age of 16 and was taken away captive to Ireland where he was forced to tend sheep. What’s luck got to do with that I ask you?

After six long years away from his homeland and family he managed to escape. Sometime later a deep compassion for the people of Ireland grew in his heart and he willingly returned to the land of his previous captivity. He reached out to the chieftains with a message of hope and of Christ. Smart guy, he knew that any chieftain who accepted his message would transfer it to their entire clan.

I suppose it’s more comfortable for us to celebrate his day with Irish lore, Irish beer, leprechauns and pots of gold. But in Patrick Maewyn Succat’s life there honestly was no luck involved. He was born for this. He followed his heart and in doing so many, many hearts found healing and wholeness.