St. Patrick’s Day

In light of the holiday, I want to share my favorite Celtic music with you. Irish-born, Marie Brennan (she now goes by Moya Brennan and her sister is Enya) uses a modern Celtic worship in her albums. Perfect Time is a personal favorite. Her lyrics are beautiful and some songs are phrased in Irish with a choir.

This cd is very relaxing and I listened to it often when I was in college, using it as study music. Her song “The Light on the Hill” is about St. Patrick and his call to go back to Ireland.

Low Ro Ho Ro

Glór na Gael (The Irish voice)

Low Ro Ho Ro

Éist le glór Dé (Listen to God’s voice)

A sea journey takes him across

Takes our hero across

With the word in his heart

Lonely he prayed on the hill

Night and day a hundred times

A hundred times and more

And the voice He heard calling

To plant the light of life

The light on the hill

Low Ro Ho Ro

Glór na Gael (The Irish voice)

Low Ro Ho Ro

Éist le glór Dé (Listen to God’s voice)

Low Ro Ho Ro

Glór na Gael (The Irish voice)

Low Ro Ho Ro

Éist le glór Dé (Listen to God’s voice)

A mission of faith sounds the bell

Brought a holy man with dreams

With his dreams for this Island

Letters he left to declare

This was his promised land

It’s the land that was chosen

The voice And his message

Still lives a thousand years

A thousand years and more

Low Ro Ho Ro

Glór na Gael (The Irish voice)

Low Ro Ho Ro

Éist le glór Dé (Listen to God’s voice)

St. Patrick’s life is a genuine reminder of following God’s will, even to places where you least expect (or desire). St. Patrick, as a young adult, was captured from his home and taken to serve as a slave (herdsman) in Ireland for six years. He escaped, returned home, and became a priest. Read more about his story here: http://janegrey.hubpages.com/hub/Life-and-Confession-of-St-Patrick. What I find most fascinating about his life is that upon his return home, God prepared him to go back to Ireland–to those who held him captive. What a story of forgiveness! He returned and it was not easy at first–you can google and links to stories (some legends) are available to see that St. Patrick’s mission was not easy. (Here is a link that I enjoyed reading. http://janegrey.hubpages.com/hub/St-Patricks-Story-and-Confession-Evangelism-of-Ireland). God worked in amazing ways by a single act of obedience in St. Patrick’s life.

Did you know that St. Patrick used a shamrock to illustrate to the Irish people the concept of the Trinity. The little plant has three leaves, yet one plant. Same with the three persons of the Trinity–God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit–yet they are One.

 Shamrocks look like Fleur-de-lis, which I use as various forms of decoration for my apartment. Fleur-de-lis is a French symbol. Although Wikipedia is not always the best source, it holds a lot of interesting history about pretty much everything. As I read the history about the Fleur-de-lis, I came across these statements:

According to French historian Georges Duby, the three leaves represent the medieval social classes: those who worked, those who fought and those who prayed.

As a religious symbol it may represent the Trinity[.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis

I think the history of the Fleur-de-lis is quite fascinating and gives me a deeper appreciation for the art. I do not consider it an icon or anything, I just find the styles and colors beautiful as there are many different versions of the art. I wanted to end my post with something Irish, so I googled “Irish proverbs” and this was the best source I found: http://tacomaweekly.tripod.com/Irish-Quotations.html. My favorite says,

May the road rise to meet you, May the wind be always at your back, May the sun shine warm upon your face, The rains fall soft upon your fields and, Until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand .

🙂