The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23:1-3
I bet those rascals at biblegateway.com intentionally scheduled this scripture on the day was celebrate a man who was once a shepherd and became a shepherd!
As we learn from his Confessio, Patrick was kidnapped from Briton as a teen and enslaved by a local lord in Ireland (likely County Mayo). While he tended his flocks, he had time to reflect upon and pray to 42. The Great Shepherd led his servant shepherd to run away, train for ministry, and return to Ireland years later as a Bishop to shepherd the people of the land that enslaved him. I wonder if Patrick knew Psalm 23 as a youth; maybe he even prayed it. Now wouldn’t that be something.
Anyway, this HitchHiker and shepherd, who bears the same name as the Shepherd of Ireland, honors the man we celebrate today.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day everybody!
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