Blessing for our Saint Patrick Feast

Illustration by Ade Bethune

Bless this Feast, O Lord, we pray.

Bless it by the young shepherd Patrick, as he “prayed before daylight whatever the weather.”

Bless it by the dreamer Patrick, who, hearing ‘the Voice of the Irish’  returned to the land which had enslaved him as evangelist and preacher.

Bless it by the Bishop Patrick, planting his crozier in a bog, pledging to never stop preaching until the Irish were converted.

Bless by the strong Saint Patrick, renouncing comfort and prestige to “cast himself...entirely into the hands of Almighty God.”

Bless it by the dying Patrick, who begged his disciples to remember that all he had accomplished was “according to God’s pleasure...that all [was] God’s Gift.”

Bless this Feast by the love of the Cherubim,
the service of archangels,
the prayers of patriarchs,
the preaching of apostles,
the innocence of holy virgins,
and the deeds of righteous men.

Bless us, the sons and daughters of Saint Patrick,
and the food which we are about to eat
through Christ our Lord.  Amen.