Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. Ps 55:22

"I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord". - St. Patrick

St. Patrick has been called "one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived". Interesting fact is that he was actually British, not Irish. He was born into a Christian family with priests and deacons for relatives, but by his own admission was "not a good Christian". As a teenager he was carried into slavery by Irish raiders. His faith was strengthened through this ordeal of extended periods of isolation without human contact and he was eventually "born again". He endured the years of isolation by praying 100 prayers each day and another 100 each night. He eventually escaped and fled back to Britain to his family through faith and God's amazing grace and mercy, Patrick made the 200 mile trip on foot without being captured or injured, just as God had promised. Another interesting fact is that St. Patrick wasn't technically a "Saint" either- he was a pastor. When he fled to Britain, he started attending seminary and was then ordained as a Pastor.

He was in Britain until he felt God calling him back to Ireland as a missionary through a dream (just as He called Paul to Macedonia in a vision in Acts 16:9-10). The Roman Catholic Church had given up on converting the pagan Celtic people, deeming such "barbarians" as "beyond hope". Their enemies were terrified of them! However Patrick still had a heart for them nonetheless and sold all his possessions to become a missionary. Though he doubted his ability, he returned to the land that had enslaved him with as much zeal as the apostle Paul (one of my other favorite missionaries).

He definitely had a unique strategy as he worked as a Preacher and sold sums of money to tribal leaders to ensure his safety in traveling and preaching the Gospel. He functioned as a true missionary in trying to relate to the Irish people and communicate the Gospel to them in their culture (see also 1 Cor. 9:19-22). Legend says that he would use a 3 leaf clover to explain the Gospel and the Holy Trinity. It's also been written that upon entering a pagan clan, he would convert the tribal leaders first, then concentrate on healing, casting demons out, and preaching- showing them how to turn from their idols to the true and living God (1 Thes 1:9). He would baptize the converts and raise up pastors. When there were enough converted, he would build a simple church that did not resemble Roman architecture and hand it over to one of the pastors so that he could move on and repeat the process somewhere else. It's been written that he converted between 30-40 of the 150 tribes to become Christian, he trained over 1000 pastors, planted over 700 churches, and was one of the first people in history to take a strong public stand against slavery.

In his Confessio Patrick writes about his burden to evangelize the Irish pagans. He saw his life's work through the lens of Matthew 28 and Acts 1; Patrick prayed that God would "never allow me to be separated from His people whom He has won in the end of the earth". For Patrick, the ends of the earth was Ireland. It has been said of Patrick that he was "soaked in the Bible" and that he embraced the missionary mandate to lead the nations to Christ (which was very unusual in his day). His unique missionary strategy was truly original and no one in western Christendom was or had ever been"possessed by such strong convictions".

In his Confessio, Patrick referred to himself as a "sinner", a "simple countryman", and the "least of all the faithful". He wrote that before he was captured, He "did not know the true God". He goes on to confess:

"And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord, my God who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.

Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity. For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt Him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven"

He truly was a humble missionary and a man from whom many lessons can be learned.

..."Therefore be amazed, you great and small who fear God, and you men of God, eloquent speakers, listen and contemplate. Who was it summoned me, a fool, from the midst of those who appear wise and learned in the law and powerful in rhetoric and in all things? Me, truly wretched in this world, He inspired before others that I could be-- if I would-- such a one who, with fear and reverence, and faithfully, without complaint, would come to the people to whom the love of Christ brought me and gave me in my lifetime, if I should be worthy, to serve them truly and with humility.

According, therefore, to the measure of one's faith in the Trinity, one should proceed without holding back from danger to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God's name everywhere with confidence and without fear, in order to leave behind, after my death, foundations for my brethren and sons whom I baptized in the Lord in so many thousands.

...Thus I give untiring thanks to God who kept me faithful in the day of my temptation, so that today I may confidently offer my soul as a living sacrifice for Christ my Lord; who am I, Lord? or, rather, what is my calling? that you appeared to me in so great a divine quality, so that today among the barbarians I might constantly exalt and magnify your name in whatever place I should be, and not only in good fortune, but even in affliction? So that whatever befalls me, be it good or bad, I should accept it equally, and give thanks always to God who revealed to me that I might trust in him, implicitly and forever, and who will encourage me so that, ignorant, and in the last days, I may dare to undertake so devout and so wonderful a work; so that I might imitate one of those whom, once, long ago, the Lord already pre-ordained to be heralds of his Gospel to witness to all peoples to the ends of the earth. So are we seeing, and so it is fulfilled; behold, we are witnesses because the Gospel has been preached as far as the places beyond which no man lives."

"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them". -Acts 16:9-10

"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some". -1 Cor. 9:19-22

"Jesus said to him, '... but you go and preach the kingdom of God" -Luke 9:60

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". Amen. -Matt. 28:19-20

"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." -Mark 16:15

My life song:

References:

All scripture NKJV

Confessions of St. Patrick