Why celebrate St. Pat’s Day?

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17th. Do you celebrate? Are you Irish? Maybe you are a teeny, little percent Irish that is just enough to wear green and celebrate this holiday. Maybe not and you celebrate anyway. What began as an Irish holiday has now become a day to celebrate the Irish culture, whether or not you are Irish. At the very least a day to wear green or some same it gives others free reign to pinch you.

Supposedly it all began with a Scottish man believed to be named Maewyn Succat. He was a Christian missionary in the 400’s in Ireland. His story or legend is fascinating and I would recommend you google him. After becoming a priest he took the name Patrick. His ministry according to some lasted forty years. During that time he converted over 135,000 people to Christianity. He used the three leaf clover to teach about the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. St. Patrick started around 300 churches. It is not known if he was born or died on March 17, but it was one and that’s why St. Patrick’s Day is on that date. Green symbolizes Spring and Irish, which is associated with that date.

When my kids were home I would celebrate all holidays, making heart shaped cakes for Valentines Day and decorating the house for Easter. St. Patrick’s Day was no exception. Not only did I wear green, I fixed Irish food for supper. I also dyed the milk green. Yes, that’s right, our pure white milk now looked like grass soup. One year my teenage son asked how I got the milk green every year. Without missing a beat I told him it was by soaking lima beans in it. Neither he nor his younger sister liked limas. His big gulp of milk was promptly spewed all over me and my kitchen. What a mess. See, I missed the point of St. Patrick’s Day (and lied because I used food coloring). It isn’t about having things green and being Irish. It is about celebrating the vast number of Druids, a pagan religion, that were saved. Thousands were Christians because of St. Patrick. That, my friend, is cause to celebrate.

“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Luke 15:7. NIV