The celebration of Saint Patrick’s day is especially odd in the USA, where people drink beer to excess in honor of the life of a Christian missionary. What?! All that nonsense about green beer, shamrocks, and leprechauns aside, we can honor the life and ministry of Saint Patrick best by pondering his “breastplate,” a prayer traditionally attributed to him.
Archives for March 2022
Lent: Yes or No?
Using those little plastic all-in-one communion capsules—one website actually calls them the miracle meal—to celebrate the Lord’s Supper is not that different from observing Lent. Both practices, one ancient and the other quite contemporary, are means toward an end, enabling us to enrich our life in Christ in community with other believers. It’s all a matter of how we participate. Jesus and Paul don’t tell us anything about plastic all-in-one Communion capsules—they tell us to observe the Eucharist to remember the Lord’s death until he comes. And neither do Jesus and Paul tell us to practice a 40-day period of self-denial and reflection before Easter—they tell us about cruciformity, that our lives should be centered on and modeled after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. So if we can handle taking communion with little plastic capsules, we should consider observing Lent.