There was once a fisherman by the name of Pat.
Pat grew up in remarkably tough circumstances. When he was 16, Pat was torn away from his family and dragged into a life he didn’t want to live, forced into a life of servitude by people bigger and stronger than him.
But through it all he felt there was another force at work in his life, a force for good, a force for change. And in the midst of those cruelest of circumstances, Pat started to pray. Sometimes, he wrote later, he would pray a hundred times during the day, and as he did he found something amazing stirring in his soul: an increasing awareness of God’s love and care for him.
And even though God eventually brought him out of a life of servitude into full-time ministry, Pat never forgot those who had treated him so badly as a youth. He could’ve taken a position in a comfortable church, far from the troubled neighborhoods he knew as a teenager, but Pat felt a call: a call to go back and lead his tormentors to God.
And that’s just what he did.
The former fisherman went out and fished for people. He carried the message he himself had learned about God’s love. And as a result, thousands of people came to Christ, new churches sprang up at an amazing rate, and today there is even a day set aside to commemorate his life.
March 17th. Saint Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick’s story echoes one of the central truths of Lent: suffering can be a doorway to new life. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Romans:
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”—Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)
During Lent we remember that God does not waste pain. In Christ, suffering can become the doorway to grace and transformation. St. Patrick’s life reminds us that the very places where we feel most wounded may one day become the places where God sends us to bring hope.
When skies grow dark and all we see are shadows
The road too rough, the mountains rise too far
When pain runs deep, and wounds cry out for answers
We come to you, O Jesus of the Scars
Read the rest of the lyrics here.
Questions for Reflection
1) How have you seen God make woundedness redemptive in your own life? In the life of those you know or have read about? How might he be inviting you to enter your own struggles in a deeper way for your good and his glory?
2) Spend some time reflecting on these words from St. Patrick:
“I know for certain, that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from there I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for his great favours in this world and for ever, that the mind of man cannot measure.”
3) Read and reflect on these verses. Let them lead you into prayerful worship and gratitude:
“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”—Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV)