Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Who is the real St. Patrick and what's he have to do with your life? Today on the Chris Stefanik Show.
Welcome to the Chris Stefanik Show. We are here for you every week to give you the tools and inspiration you need to live your everyday life with joy, even when life feels a little bit crazy. I want to thank our missionaries of joy, the people who have jumped off the sidelines who are saying this doesn't only inspire me. I want to make it happen. Click below this video to become a missionary of joy with your monthly gift. This episode is sponsored in part by ewtn. You can catch this and so much more on ewtn. Streaming link is below in the show notes and don't forget to sign up for the daily anchor. Let us inspire you every day, dude.
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Just let us do it. It's free. There are no strings attached. Become part of the 140,000 people getting an email in your inbox to lift you up and get you focused every day with an email that takes like two minutes to read. Before we jump into today's episode with my dear friend Eddie Cotter, who if you watched a previous episode, you know is also a good friend of Santa Claus.
Hallelujah.
What an honor to have Santa on my show.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Right, Chris? It's an honor to be here.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: I want to give a shout out to Eddie. I'm really proud of him. He wrote a beautiful book. Great one liners from the saints. Sometimes all it takes is one sentence to change the whole trajectory of your day and sometimes it's all you got time to read. So we're going to link to that book below this video. I'm also really proud of Eddie. He's the founder and president of dead theologian society. Deadtheologiansociety.com what is that? Funny you should ask. It's a great youth ministry movement to help gather young people together to focus on the lives and teachings of the saints. Dude, when you had the right heroes, your life follows the person you've made as your hero. I've seen it change the lives of young people and it's really not that hard to start one at your parish. So link below the video for deadtheologiansociety.com as well.
Let's dive in.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Eddie Cotter, Chris Stefanik the Great.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: The greatest guest in the history of this show. No offense to the other guests who have been on my show, including the archbishop and other great human beings, but you're just.
[00:02:23] Speaker B: They're okay.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: They're okay by comparison. I love you, man.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: You too.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: I'm starting this one with a hug. There we go. I used to wanna hug godfather of Joey, Godfather of my son.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. It's a rich life. And being the godfather of Joey and just knowing your family for almost 30 years now has just been a super lottery win. So thank you for the years of friendship.
[00:02:46] Speaker A: I love you, brother.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Same here. The feeling is mutual.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Yeah. I remember the old days, and I was youth ministry in diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: And I was just starting speaking, calling you late at night, driving, trying to stay awake.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: I was just starting DTS debt Dealon Society, visiting parishes. And I remember very well those conversations that would go on for like two to three hours as we were driving home, keeping each other awake and encouraging each other in our mission work.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Missionary work. Ain't for sissies was our motto.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Something pretty close to that.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: And again, deaththeologiansociety.com, check it out. It's an incredible youth apostolate.
J.D. flynn was at our party. Guy who runs the pillar, and he's like. Is that Eddie Cotter?
Eddie Cotter, he's like the real deal. He's like a real evangelist. The rest of us just get paid to do this?
[00:03:41] Speaker B: No.
What's funny is on the break, the band playing, which you want to talk about your party, Irish party. But I was on the back deck there, and he came out, super nice guy and said, oh, hey, I'm Eddie. He said, I'm J.D. but I didn't know who he was, except he's this nice guy. He's a friend of yours. And then I just found out today, that's J.D. flynn. I didn't get his.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: I said, J.D. flynn of the pillar fame.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: That blows my mind. And the last name Flynn makes it official.
[00:04:05] Speaker A: But I was good. Yeah, right, right.
I think he's half Irish and half ashamed.
Not sure what else he is.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: Great guy, though. All those people at your party are just.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Dude.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Okay, Wonderful. Go ahead.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Best Irish trad band in history.
You're the drummer at my house for my 50th party. We're gonna show you a quick clip of it, and we'll show you more at the end. Go. Roll.
Okay, we're back. Let's talk St. Patrick.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: Love to talk St. Patrick.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: The real St. Patrick. St. Patrick's Day is coming up. Everyone knows that he is the patron saint.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: That is correct, right? Yes.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: Why is he the patron saint of Nigeria? In addition to Ireland, of course, and many other things.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Well, Ireland, you know, has been always called the land of saints and scholars. And when a lot of the world was in darkness and paganism, the Irish seminaries were filled and Irish monks were doing their thing. And so Ireland has a history of going out and about and around the world to preach the faith of Jesus Christ and keeping their Irishness in the process and embracing cultures, learning their languages so they adapt well and maintain who they are. And so people around the world love the Irish because of the faith they brought. And they did it in a way that I think was very becoming.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: And the beer.
Nigeria's also the only other country with a Guinness factory that I didn't know because the Irish missionaries went there. And you have your Guinness factory in Ireland and in Nigeria, I'm pretty sure it's the only other one.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: I'm not about to dispute that. On your show.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: You don't drink at all, though?
[00:06:17] Speaker B: Well, I drink non alcoholic drinks. Otherwise I'd be very dehydrated. I would actually. I took a pledge. It's called the Pioneer Total Abstinence association, or the Sacred Heart. And it was founded in Ireland in the late 1800s, late 1700s. Oh, forgive me. Pioneers, they're called pioneers, I believe, late 1800s. And the idea was a lot of Irish suffered because of the drink. And there was a movement to say, you know, we're not against drinking, but maybe we can offer it up as a sacrifice for those who suffer from the abuse of alcohol. And they were called pioneers because the priest who founded the Pioneer Total Abstinence association, he was inspired and motivated by the pioneers of. Of America that went west, how they were rugged and tough and the sacrifices they had to make. So as a pioneer, I made a pledge when I was 18 years old never to drink alcohol. And I forgot to wear my pin. I forgot to pack it. We wear a little pin of the Sacred Heart and we say a prayer every day. And it's to offer up something that would be part of our. Of our world. And I have family that owns an Irish pub and I'm very comfortable around it. In my music days, around alcohol, but I made the pledge not to drink it. But we're not in judgment against people who drink, but we're kind of a witness not to get drunk in life, but to offer it up as a prayer to honor the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: You're the only guy I know who's sober, but not because you had been an alcoholic, but just you took a vow. You're literally the only one. I'm sure there's others out there who do this pledge. What saint started that? Was it a saint or was it.
[00:07:50] Speaker B: No, it was a priest. Father Curran, I believe. And this is where I wish I would have brush up on the history. I've been a pioneer since I was 18, which is about 400 years ago.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: What inspires an 18 year old to do that?
[00:08:01] Speaker B: I was inspired because I'd met some pioneers and heard about it.
And I grew up in the central Ohio Irish community where St. Patrick Church is like the heart of the Irish. It was the mother church for the Irish. So I was aware of what pioneers were and I heard about it and I thought, well, that makes sense, because I really didn't drink really much anyway. And I thought, well, this is a good thing to do. And yeah, I could do it. So I would say other people who are pioneers have maybe sacrificed more than me if they were drinking and had to really give up something. But since I really wasn't a drinker. But I can tell you, practicing that temperance and offering something up because I know myself well enough, if I had been a drinker, yeah, it wouldn't have been pretty, I'm afraid. So I'm grateful to the apostolate for it's helping me live the life that I've had.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Not that this show's about this, but is it kind of fun when you're at a party and everyone's getting a little tipsy to just watch?
When you're not tipsy and everyone else is slow ringing and you're still in
[00:09:07] Speaker B: the normal gear, I feel when that happens, I feel faster and quicker than I am. Cause usually if everyone's sober, I'm the fat slow guy. So when they're slowing down, I'm feeling like I'm Olympic level. Speed and sharpness, that's epic.
It's been a good thing. And there's some other people. You know, I work with teenagers a lot. Some over the years have decided they'll take the pledge too, because they like the idea of offering it up. And I remember I have a great old friend, Father Barney McGuckian. He's in his 80s, a Jesuit priest in Ireland. And he was given lots of stories. He's a chaplain of the Pioneers and things like that. And he was saying, like the miracles that happen.
Excuse me. When someone takes the pledge of.
There was a gentleman who, like, for the first time, they could pay the school fees and things for their kids because he wasn't wasting that money away on drink. And there's just all kind of benefits like that, actually.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: I mean, these are things we don't like to look at.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: Because social drinking is really enjoyable and under control. Drinking is great.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Not sinful, Right? No.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: And frankly, one of the things that keeps me from becoming an alcoholic is
[00:10:12] Speaker B: I don't want to ruin my own party.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: If you become an alcoholic, you can't keep drinking.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: That's brilliant, actually. Right.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: It's like, I'd like to be able to enjoy a glass of wine if I have five.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: What you just said should be on a plaque.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Thank you. I do this for a living. Come up with wise things that I say sometimes.
But the amount of problems from people cheating on a spouse who wouldn't otherwise do it.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: You know, to. To kids ending up in jail, to violence, to. To a fight that ends in a knife fight, it's like, how much of that just because someone drank too much, the mistakes.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: And I know sometimes when people have been called, like, liquid courage and things like that, people that say things and do things that they would regret, that leads to a lot of problems, which sometimes are hard to come back from.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
I think it was coach Lou Holtz that made the statement once. He said, like, he's met so many, like, hundreds of people in his life, and he's never heard anyone say that they owe their success to alcohol, but a lot of people said they owe a lot of their problems to alcohol. And. Yeah. So I think, just as a pioneer myself, again, not looking down on people that enjoy a drink, because that's a beautiful way to celebrate. And I've seen, you know, thankfully in my life, I'm surrounded by people who drink the right way and they're wonderful and it's a great.
And things like that. But it's the excess that makes you worry.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: A lot of people think St. Patrick's Day is the time to over drink.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: And puke in the Chicago River.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: That's to celebrate the great saint.
[00:11:44] Speaker B: And it's actually. It's kind of an insult to Patrick. To St. Patrick. Because all the excess and things like that is not what he was about. No. And to honor him for bringing the faith and turning the lights on in Ireland and the great legacy opposite. And I think a lot of people, they mean well and they think that St. Patrick's Day is Excess Day. It's Party Day. It's being, you know, out of control day. And so I think they mean well. They want to get involved in it. Maybe they weren't taught the proper way to celebrate it, but if they could just dial some of that back a little bit and say, what a great day to celebrate as a little boy.
In Columbus, Ohio is one of the great places where it was the St. Patrick's Day parade. And people wore their best that day, and they put on the top hat and things that's part of that tradition comes from. And they would do a march, a pilgrimage to Mass at St. Patrick's Church. And then after mass was over, would be the big parade. And that's just fantastic because it was really a holy day. I remember as a little boy, early in the morning, you know, arriving at the parade, you hear the bagpipers going. You can smell the pipes and the cigars going through the air and all the guys. And a lot of those times when I was a little boy, a lot of the men that were around in central Ohio there, they were from Ireland or their kids were, where the kids and their dads were. And it was such an exciting thing. And I was very fortunate because my dad and his brothers are seven Cotter boys. And they were given the limo in front of the mayor, the first car in the St. Patrick's Day cutters. And since I was the baby of all the Cotter grandkids and it was spoiled as a result, they let me ride in the limo with them every year. So my earliest memories are just like in the limo and everyone waving and just so much happiness and love and going into St. Patrick's Church and hearing the great Shamrock Club choir and the bagpipers. It still gives me chills to this day. It really does.
[00:13:37] Speaker A: What percent Irish are you?
[00:13:38] Speaker B: A whole bunch.
No, my mom's side. Wasn't she of a German Austrian?
[00:13:42] Speaker A: You don't talk about that, though.
[00:13:43] Speaker B: Yeah, let's leave her out because it's best of.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: I never. I never liked her.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: No, and I did until you just said that. And I wonder if I should change because we're such good friends.
She was a great mom, God rest her soul. She was of a German Austrian royalty line, and she was very classy, beautiful woman. And she was so supportive. And she wasn't Catholic. Very supportive of my upbringing, where she and dad raised us beautifully. But really, the emphasis there, especially being in central Ohio with the Irish community, was so encouraging of it and encouraged my Irish music, even though she thought it all sounded the same, which it doesn't. But some people think that it was just a great way. But she was very supportive of all things Irish and Catholic.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Your parents. So you got this German Austrian lady marrying an Irish guy. Was That a source of tension?
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Not at all. And that's one of the great witnesses they had. They were married over 40, like 46, 48 years. Mom passed away in 86.
But there was never once a religious argument in our home growing up, or
[00:14:47] Speaker A: race or ethnic argument.
[00:14:49] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:14:50] Speaker A: You know what's funny? Like, there's none people. I mean, racism obvious. It's an obvious evil and problem.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: And like past generations, like, yeah, they were racist. Like, no, no, they weren't merely racist.
I'm half Slovak and half Irish.
[00:15:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: And it was like kind of a thing. There was a little bit like, huh, Jimmy's marrying an Irish girl.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: How about that?
[00:15:11] Speaker A: The Slovak family, we like Polish people and Slovak people. This was like just, you know, two generations ago.
[00:15:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Like literally everyone else is distrusted, like Hungarian. I don't know.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: Well, the thing with my mom was the Catholic Protestant thing, you know, so mom was never Catholic ever, and dad was. But mom would be a great singer in her Methodist choir. I was an older boy and my sister and myself would go to mass with dad and there was no problem. She was so supportive of our Catholicism. And so I was very fortunate. I saw just beautiful parents that raised as well. Yeah.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: I want to jump into the story of the real St. Patrick. Yeah, sorry. Before that. I have a beautiful tangential brain. Before that. Before that.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Before that. Chris, I don't know what the word tangential means.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Me neither. I just made it up.
Dead Theologian Society. Can you give us a 90 second pitch about what that is? Because you obsess on the saints. You love the saints.
Why and what is DTS?
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Dead Theologian Society is known as DTS has been around 28 years. It's a private association of the faithful. Our kind of charism. We pray for souls in purgatory, mainly teenagers, college students gather at their parish. They learn about the life of a great saint or blessed.
So we're learning about the Church Triumphant and we are praying for the Church suffering the souls in purgatory. We the Church militant. So it's a gathering where the whole church family is involved, learning about the lives of the saints and praying for souls in purgatory.
[00:16:40] Speaker A: You know what's so cool?
Well, it shifts out of a gear that most people expect from youth ministry to kind of a contemplative mode.
And there's something so perpetually relevant about the stories of the saints.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Like, what a great way to convey the faith, man.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. I'm really, really happy that We've had about 23,000 teenagers over the last 28 years, 550 parishes. We've been in about 43 states now. We've had several DTS chapters in Ireland right before COVID and Nigeria.
Nigeria's next, actually. That would be really helpful.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Where in Africa did you. You had DTS in Africa?
[00:17:14] Speaker B: In Ghana. We had a great chapter in Ghana. Yeah. And some last longer than others. You know, there's always requires leaders and sometimes priests get moved around. But the apostolate. In my travels in life, I've met people who are priests now who are nuns and I meet for the first time and they say that they were. They got their.
They heard the call being involved in death Deludion Society because they wanted to be like the lives of the saints that they're learning about. And that just always gives me chills because. And that's like. When I met J. I got him right now.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Zoom in.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Those look good. So when I met JD the other night, you know, he told me one of the first things he said was that his best friend was a kid who was in my youth group and credits his time in debt Deludion Society as a big part of his faith. I was like, I love to hear stories like that. But yeah, the lives of saints are a big thing of debt dealers in society and praying for souls.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: It's also kind of a no miss success because with some youth ministries it's like, well, what if 50 kids don't come?
Well, if three kids come and learn about a saint and pray together, that's kind of a cool night.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: We had three boys that were in a chapter in Missouri many years ago. And at the DTS meeting they said, hey, let's all become priests. And they are now.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: You gotta be kidding me.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: No, I'm not. I wouldn't joke about that.
But I mean, it's a true story. And then also many years ago they had the big National Catholic.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: I just got the chills again.
[00:18:33] Speaker B: I say that they went up higher this time.
Yeah, I was wondering if those were stick ons. They look good.
I remember about, oh, maybe 12 years ago or something like that. I was in downtown Columbus, Ohio, crossing the street. They had the National Catholic Youth Conference there.
[00:18:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Van full of nuns pull up and they honk the horn and they're going, eddie Cotter. Eddie Cotter. I'm thinking van full of nuns. They'd be yelling, Eddie Cotter. It turns out one of the nuns got out and I knew her when she was a cheerleader in high school and she was in my youth Group, one of the first members of Debt Dealers Society. Now she's sister Maria Gemma. And it's like, to learn things like that just gives me chills.
[00:19:07] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh, mine don't. You know how many hairs, though, they
[00:19:09] Speaker B: don't compare you with yours.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: They're like this light ginger hair that I can't even see.
[00:19:13] Speaker B: Yeah. It barely counts.
So it's exciting to be able to do that kind of work. And you were one of the early guys that encouraged it. And I know you've been a member of our board and have encouraged me in life as a friend and in the missionary work. And it's just really a great privilege to come here today because I know it's been a while since we've seen each other.
[00:19:33] Speaker A: Yeah, man.
[00:19:33] Speaker B: But the work continues. As your work continues, my work continues. And to be honest with you, I only have a general idea from time to time, how many chapters, doing what, I mean, I kind of know.
But as far as the results of it, the ripple effect and stuff, when we find that out, please, God, I get to heaven to find out how many vocations and good things that came from it, you know?
[00:19:59] Speaker A: And I tell you, man, I love thinking about three kids in a group, because some people would think that group's a failure.
Oh, never think that if it's worth doing for three kids.
[00:20:08] Speaker B: Jesus had 12 in his group.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Yeah. It's not a really big youth group, right?
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And one didn't stick around, but look what happened, right?
[00:20:17] Speaker A: 8.5% of them left.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: Yes. And we have the same Holy Spirit that his youth group had.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Let's jump into St. Patrick.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: I want to take a quick moment here to ask you something really important.
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Give us a 35,000 foot view of his life. And then I want to dive into things he actually said. I dug up some quotes from him because a lot of people think about the legend of St. Patrick.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: And then again it spirals into, let's just party in honor of St. Patrick. But who is this guy? We actually have historical writings that express the spirit of this great man.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: Yeah, I'll go kind of quickly.
So the year of his birth, late 300s, some say 389ish.
He was born not in Ireland, but probably part of present day Scotland or Wales. There's books that come out. So it was in Roman Britain, in the crumbling empire of the Roman Empire.
Roman Empire that was crumbling, so they didn't have a lot of the protection. But anyway. His grandfather was a priest. His dad was a magistrate and a deacon. Patrick grew up in a Christian family, a Roman Christian family.
And as a young man, by his own writings. We know two writings are his that are authentic. One is his confession, which we may read from. The other is a letter to the soldiers of Coroticus. But in his own writings, he admits that as a teenager he was a bit of a wild child. He didn't take his studies or his faith very seriously. And there was a group of Irish pirates who marauded. Is that the right word? Marauders?
[00:23:20] Speaker A: Marauded. I think it's. That sounds like the right word.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: It sounds good. I'm going to stick with it.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Marauders. Maraud.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: Yes. There was some marauding that happened. They came across in Patrick and some others. He was kidnapped as about 15, 16 years old, taken to Ireland as a slave. Now think of the trauma for his parents. Even if he was a wilderness, still stuck in marauding.
[00:23:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:42] Speaker B: My next license plate might just say maraudering or something along a derivative line.
[00:23:46] Speaker A: It's one of those words I've never used in an interview before.
[00:23:48] Speaker B: I feel good, actually. It felt good. It did.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: You just raised the class level, this whole thing.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: I totally agree.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: I'm sorry. We're back into a very serious story.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: This poor kid, 16 to Ireland as a slave.
So think of the trauma of being kidnapped, the trauma for his parents, for his family.
So he's supposed to. He was a shepherd boy in the mountains and hills of the north of Ireland.
And it was there, though, in his isolation and, you know, being taken out of an environment that he was comfortable in as kind of like maybe a bit of a partier or someone that just kind of didn't take his stuff seriously, all of a sudden, he had to come face to face with who he is.
And it was there that he always said he discovered the Anam Kara, the friend of the soul. Anam Kara, the friend of the soul. And once he discovered that, he would say. He said like sometimes hundreds of prayers in the day and at night, only slightly less. That he was never. He was never slack, but always full of energy.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: I'm gonna read that quote.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Do you wanna read it now or do you wanna give the quick quote?
[00:24:49] Speaker A: Okay, sorry. Stay in the 35,000ft and then we'll come land.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: I'll go faster even now. So I'm gonna maraud the rest of the story here.
And so after about six years as a slave, in a dream, he heard the voice say, your ship is ready. And so he left. His slave owner walked, I think, approximately 200 miles and found a ship in harbor ready to set sail.
He convinced the sailors on the ship, who were not Christian, to take him.
And they suffered hardships once. They were starving and Patrick prayed and they were able to find food and things like that. So his witness, even as, like a young man in his 20s that turned to God in times of distress, even had an impact on his captors. Not his captors, sorry, the sailors of that ship. Well, anyway, he gets away, he's able to go back to his family. Think of the joy they had. Their son is alive after being gone six years, maybe more.
He tells them, though, he receives a.
And in the dream, there's a man.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: Another dream, another vision.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Yes, but it was very strong, named Victoricus. And Victoricus was carrying letters. And he handed one of those letters to Patrick. And it said, from the Irish people, the voice of the Irish people. And in that letter it said, we beg you, holy boy, come back and walk once more among us. And Patrick knew I had to go back to Ireland. But before he did that, he goes down. I believe it's like Gaul area, like the kind of northern France, whatever. So he left his family again, became a priest. So that took time. And then he returns to Ireland as a bishop, probably in his 40s by
[00:26:29] Speaker A: now, just starting in his mid-40s, the
[00:26:31] Speaker B: land of his captivity. The advantage he had was at his time being a slave in Ireland. He learned their language, he learned their customs. He wasn't the first missionary in Ireland, but he was a successful one. Others had failed because they tried to impose a Roman system, and they didn't know the language, they didn't know the customs, and the people weren't buying it. Patrick knew the Irish people, and actually he loved the people, even though that was the land of his captivity. So he did his mission work. It was full of danger.
And he writes about that. Great quotes about any day he thought he could die. There were all kinds of dangers that were too tough to even write about, but he did. And in his lifetime, he basically converted the Irish race without modern technology.
And he did it for over about 30 years or more. So he died in his 70s.
And he wrote down, you know, a confession. He was accused of things by, I think, jealous people, clerics and things in Britain. And Patrick was able to write a defense of his life and his ministry and. Yeah, and so one thing before I end this one, I'm going to maraud right to the final sentence here.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: I think you're misusing that, but.
[00:27:39] Speaker B: Am I?
[00:27:40] Speaker A: Let's expand the usage right now.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: I'm overdoing it. Sure.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: So I won't.
[00:27:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't want to. Yeah. I don't want to be, like, have maraud excess, because that doesn't feel good.
So anyway, he got to the end of his life and he said what a hallmark of Patrick was that he was so grateful to God. And that's one of the biggest things I know as a little boy, St. Patrick was my hero and my confirmation St. Joseph. The thing that's stood out was he operated from a sense of gratitude that he knew that anything good in his life came from God versus self. And I think that's just a great one of his legacies. Or if people want to copy and go in the footsteps of St. Patrick, to remember to be grateful to God. He said before, you know, that he was like a stone in the mud and God pulled him out and set him on top of the wall.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: And I think that's that imagery. Oh, one last thing. Okay, I promise.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: Go ahead. Go ahead, Eddie.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: He always felt a little bit insecure about his lack of learning since he kind of blew off his studies. But he knew the Bible inside and out. He was a man of one book, and it was the book. So in his writing, he's weaving scripture, he knew. And so he had such gratitude to God. He had faith in the Holy Trinity and unity. So he was a rugged faith, courageous, full of the Holy Spirit, and he knew the Bible, and he just did it. And so there's the faith of Ireland. Can trace its legacy back to Patrick.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: Hallelujah.
[00:29:09] Speaker B: Beautiful story. Really high five.
[00:29:11] Speaker A: To Patrick.
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Patrick. Patrick.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: What a man. What a man.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: Just a great.
We need people of a rugged faith.
[00:29:20] Speaker A: You even get the sense that while he knew the Bible inside and out, the way he's quoting it in the two letters we have from him, his confession and the letter to Herodotus.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:28] Speaker A: It's not even with a really sophisticated, high academic lens. Like, he knew it and just.
It was an earthy experience of scripture that was fairly simple, but that was enough to make a saint and a great missionary in that.
[00:29:43] Speaker B: Chris. I think. I think there's probably a lot of people that feel like they lack the credentials or the theological, the genius and some of the things. So they feel like I can't really do. I'll wait, let someone else do the missionary thing. But we're all called, you know, priest, prophet, king.
We can be a witness in our families, in our workplaces. We don't, you know, if you have those extra degrees and that knowledge. Fantastic. Yeah, I know I don't have it myself, so I've continued to learn stuff. So being around guys like yourself and the priests at St. Patrick's in Columbus have been fantastic and just always learning things along the way.
But to anyone viewing, it's like, don't let a lack of credentials maybe stop you. You don't have to go out and make stuff up, make up bad theology, but you can demonstrate your belief in God, your gratitude to God, and by witnessing that how we treat other people, you can do a whole lot of missionary work and keeping it very simple. Yeah.
Seriously, man, DTS was started that way.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: Well, frankly, it's the way you do all your ministry stuff. You have dart tournaments at your house where you have the neighborhood come in, give out a trophy, pray a rosary together like this. You live this, like, conspiracy.
[00:30:59] Speaker B: It's because that's all I know how to do. I don't have the other abilities.
It's beautiful, though. Yeah. And I think, you know, working with teenagers has been helpful because that audience, I find, by and large, are like, just, like, very real. Their life's ahead of them, and it's kind of like, you don't have to kill them with too much head knowledge. Yeah, but I'm also amazed there are people that can absorb this stuff. And I'm not begrudging anyone that has that gift or that skill. I mean, I don't really.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: All in all, it's not necessary to be a saint and evangelist.
[00:31:35] Speaker B: And don't let it stop you from. From becoming a saint. Do what you can with the gifts that God gave you.
[00:31:39] Speaker A: The biggest thing that jumps out at me from Patrick's life story is that a lot of people feel disqualified from being used by God. If they have wounds, if they have traumas and tragedies.
[00:31:50] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:31:50] Speaker A: And when I think about the things that made Patrick effective, it was precisely the worst thing that happened to him. Like what worse thing can happen than you're a 16 year old kid, someone barges in your house, takes you as a slave. That is why he learned his life of prayer. It's why he learned the Irish language, the Irish people, humility, which was key. Even now, you know, if you're doing evangelistic work in Ireland, if you're a little bit proud man, they'll quietly write you right off, no doubt about it. In a passive aggressive kind of way.
[00:32:19] Speaker B: They can spot a phony.
[00:32:20] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: And someone who's trying to be all that. And they're not. Be careful.
[00:32:25] Speaker A: If you have an American accent, you got to extra humble and be extra careful.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: We try to put on an Irish accent like we've done already in this episode.
So apologies anyone we offended? No, but I'm telling.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: I don't think the Irish are offended by cultural appropriation, though. Like, who's the last Irishman at a St Patrick's Day parade was thinking, are these people all Irish? They're appropriating Ireland. Like, who cares if you care in some other context. I can't relate, frankly. I just. As an Irishman, like, whatever, it's all good. Don't you think it's a compliment?
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Genuine love and authenticity. People know if you care about them or you're just kind of big time in them or you're just trying to act. And I think that goes a long way. And work with teens, I think work with anybody.
Just be genuine. So whenever they see you, it could be in traffic, it could be at church, it could be anywhere that you're not living kind of a double life, whatever.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: But Patrick was genuine.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: Because he didn't spend his life in. Again, you could be academic and be genuine too, but he didn't spend his life in academia or in any atmosphere that allowed him to become disingenuous. When you're a shepherd in fields. You're genuine, dude.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: And he also had the humility to realize, if I'm going to be effective, I have to do some training myself. So to go and be a priest, that he was more equipped than if he just ran right back over there prematurely, you know. So he knew the language, he knew the culture, and he got the requirements that he needed. Of course, the greatest thing, he was able to say Mass and give the Irish people the Eucharist and hear confessions, which he wouldn't have been able to do if he just went right back over there, you know. So God bless him for doing that hard work.
[00:33:58] Speaker A: A couple Patrick quotes. This is where he learned prayer day after day. I had come to Ireland. It was then that I had made. That I was made to shepherd the flocks day after day. And as I did so, I would pray all the time, right through the day. I just said day, like 15 times. It's not my fault, Patrick. Patrick wrote it. It's all good.
More and more, the love of God and fear of him grew strong within me. And as my faith grew, so the spirit became more and more active. So that in a single day, I would say as many as a hundred prayers. And at night, only slightly less so. And he goes on to say, in snow, in frost, in rain. I love thinking of him in the elements. Totally uncomfortable.
I would hardly notice any discomfort. And I was never slack, but always full of energy. It's clear to me now this was due to the fervor of the Spirit within me.
Dude, I love reading that.
[00:34:48] Speaker B: Right? Yes.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: There's like a. Sometimes I complicate prayer and, like, how do I pray? How do I pray more deeply? And there's times where I don't. I don't feel it, and I don't know how to pray more deeply. And what he's saying here is quantity over quality. Sometimes. I mean, just do it and do lots of it.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: Hundreds of prayers makes a saint.
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Yeah, you know. You've been to Ireland? I've been to Ireland, actually. I lost track. I had, I think, 50, 60 times.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: I only went once.
[00:35:19] Speaker B: Really.
[00:35:19] Speaker A: Kind of a shame. We should lead a pilgrimage there together someday.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: I would love to do that.
Some great friends in Ireland. My dentist is in Ireland. One of my best friends is a bishop in. Most people don't go to Waterford, Ireland
[00:35:29] Speaker A: or England for their dental work. I'm just saying
[00:35:33] Speaker B: I can get anything neat done for me.
[00:35:34] Speaker A: I have a good dentist friend in Ireland, too, actually.
[00:35:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:36] Speaker A: And he has lovely teeth. So the Stereotype doesn't always fit.
[00:35:39] Speaker B: That would be fantastic to do a pilgrimage to Ireland together.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: We're doing it.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: We're signing you up right now.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Let's do this deal. Got it.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: We'll do it. It's a contract.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: So I just noticed. And I love the fact that, like I said, I'm so grateful to my Irish friends and those who keep the faith going, sometimes going uphill. And Patrick had a vision that at some point, all the work that he had done will kind of start to be extinguished. But there would be little bits, little flames of faith.
He had a vision that would still. Yes. That would still burn. And I know people in Ireland that are those little flames that are going.
Wonderful people, even if they're right now, it seems like they're the minority at times. But then the vision also was completed with. But then it all came together and was a roaring flame again.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: So I think, come, Holy Spirit, let it come now.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. But I think that genuine love and the spirit of St Patrick and living the faith, not being ashamed of it, being.
Being a rugged witness, but with great love and great charity and being very authentic. And to realize, too, you can't write people off if they rub you the wrong way early on, you know, And I think that's important too, you know, to see the goodness and see. Patrick helped lead the pagan Irish to what their hearts desire. They believed in a third place. So we have, with our doctrine, our faith in purgatory, that made sense to the Irish because they believed there was kind of a third place.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So he led them to their hearts desire. And also when they were worshiping the sun in the sky, Patrick said, you worship something that's created the Son which will perish. I bring you the true, the Creator, the Son of God which will never perish. So he was able to finesse their
[00:37:28] Speaker A: pursuit instead of smashing it, instead of
[00:37:30] Speaker B: writing them off and talking down to them. So I just. I think that's just a great way to do things.
[00:37:35] Speaker A: But it all sprung from a life of deep, deep, deep prayer.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: You know, I love Annam Care. Do you talk to the Holy Spirit with that title? Do you pray to the Anamkara?
[00:37:44] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:37:45] Speaker A: Because you're as Irish as a cum sidi.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: I tried to do, like, my rosary in, you know, Irish and a little bit English. Yeah.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: Can I hear Hail Mary in Gaelic?
[00:37:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
Shey duvaha aweera tulan de grace taton chirna lat is banahu ijmanaga sisbanahatur devrona issa nave mera wahar J Gweir napaki anisha gisar urmash. Amen.
[00:38:07] Speaker A: So you pray your rosary that way?
[00:38:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: That's beautiful.
[00:38:10] Speaker B: It's way to stay connected to the roots and the beautiful people of Wyron.
[00:38:15] Speaker A: So while not. I mean, enculturation means you're baptizing what's good from the culture, you're not keeping all of it. Right. There's some things that are incompatible. I think there's been a trend of openness and enculturation. Sometimes in the church that overdoes it and wants to make peace with every aspect. And you can't make peace with pagan God straight up. You just can't. Right. There's aspects of the religiosity you can baptize and raise up.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: He started his ministry so boldly.
[00:38:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:41] Speaker A: Tell us about Croak Patrick.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:38:44] Speaker A: I'll show some pics on the screen. I went there with Joey and Natalie and Eloise when I preached there 10 years ago, 15 years ago.
[00:38:52] Speaker B: That's a special place. I think it was called Eagle Mountain by the English translation. It was a high mountain for the Druids. You know, they.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: It was like Mount Olympus. They thought their gods were all there.
[00:39:03] Speaker B: Yeah. They fell at the top. Yeah. And so Patrick went up Croak Patrick. Now it's Croak Patrick, Patrick's mountain means. And he went up and fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights to.
For the Irish people, you know, and to.
And I think that strengthened him so much. And to this day, people go up Croak Patrick all the time now. I'd say just like on the Camino, some people walk it with as a religious pilgrimage. Some are doing it because it's like a fitness thing. And I know people up and down Croatrick. Some are just. It's just a hill to climb. And some are still doing it like a barefoot pilgrimage. I've been up six times myself. I was able to take my son Rory, when he was a senior in high school. And that was one of the highlights of my life because I went up the first time when I was about his age, you know, and so I have pictures actually at the top over the years. When I was a young man that was fit.
I used to be young and beautiful and thin.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: I think you're beautiful now.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: I really appreciate it.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: There's more of you to love.
And you're a Santa a lot more. But that's for another show.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: But over the years, those Photos show me, like, aging at the top of Croke Patrick. So it's kind of neat.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: That's epic, man.
[00:40:13] Speaker B: I've taken teams. Excuse me, Taking teams up. Croak Patrick. And they have a little chapel at the top and had mass at the top.
[00:40:19] Speaker A: But, dude, the boldness required, like, they wouldn't. The pagans wouldn't go up there. This was a scary place where their angry gods were. They didn't have a good view of.
Of the divine. And he's like, I'm gonna. I'm claiming Ireland for Jesus. I'm going straight to the center, to the epicenter of pagandom.
[00:40:34] Speaker B: And I love the pagans, but totally reject their paganism.
[00:40:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And he won showdowns against their druids and their druidic priests. And I mean.
Yeah. And he helped convert some and he. Yeah, so. And that's a good message for us, you know, again, welcome and love people, but you don't have to endorse if they're in falsehood and all.
[00:40:57] Speaker A: That's something we're awful at today. We think we have to endorse in order to express love.
[00:41:03] Speaker B: And that's not love.
Love is when you want what's best for people. And it's not a selfish thing. It's a selfless thing. And there's no greater love than to want everyone in the world to be. Well, I think it's to be loved.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: To be in love with Jesus.
[00:41:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And to be a devout Catholic, even, because it's the fullness of the truth. And that doesn't mean any disrespect, but it means when you love someone, you want what's absolutely best for them. And so I would never want to stop short of that to say, well, but, you know, encouraging people along the way, you know, if someone is non Christian, they become Christian. You celebrate that. You don't right away say, wait, you're not Catholic yet. I mean, but to keep encouraging them. I think as they fall more in love with Jesus, then they start to fall more in love with, like, ultimately the Eucharist, but they learn, like, the rosary and lives of saints and to encourage them. And all that fullness that we have as Catholics, it's just so beautiful, you know, And a lot of times heresies aren't about what's in there, it's about what's left out. And I think we have so much in common with Christian brethren and even people maybe that are not. They're not Christian, but they're trying to find the truth.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:09] Speaker B: And again, let's then lead them to their heart's desire and. And not stop short. Amen. I think most people realize, well, you're not forcing me. And you do love me, you care about me, and I think that's the way you go.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: Amen. Well, even the Celtic cross is a sign of that.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: The cross over the sun.
[00:42:25] Speaker A: Yeah. The sun is the Druid God.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: And then the cross is over it.
[00:42:28] Speaker B: Over the top of it.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: Better than it's a completion of what you're looking for.
[00:42:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:32] Speaker A: And dude, his boldness I love. Okay. This is part of why he's the first person in history recorded as condemning slavery as gravely sinful. And I wish the church had always been as clear as Patrick was, but I'm proud that this is part of our history. And gosh, when you think of Western civilization, this is the only civilization, while it went to awful heights with slavery, it's also the first to by internally fixing their own problems, get rid of slavery and vote out slavery. That's because of the Christian seed, you know, that was in there that needed time to grow. But Patrick was right there and we should be proud of this. And he wrote to Coroticus, this jerk who was kidnapping people. Dude, he was a bold bishop. He didn't make peace with the politicians that weren't living out.
[00:43:21] Speaker B: And that's partially why they tried to condemn him, because Coroticus was actually like a gang leader, like a thug king, almost.
[00:43:28] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:43:29] Speaker B: Of a British thug.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: So he wrote, this is why the Church mourns and weeps for its sons and daughters whom the sword has not yet slain, but who were taken away and exported to far distant lands where grave sin openly flourishes without shame. He called slavery grave sin, where freeborn people have been sold Christians, reduced to slavery slaves, particularly of the lowest and worst of the apostate Picts.
The Picts. The people, the picts.
[00:43:59] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: I just. I'm just. This is something to be proud of. I don't know if there's much commentary to make on it except praise God.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: And I think it's fantastic. Like, even now that we're able, we're fortunate enough to be able to talk about this and maybe you know, kind of help in that effort, the never ending effort to try to bring people to the fullness of truth.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And this is something too. People think that Christianity, there's a revisionist history, this reduction of Christianity, the church, of Western civilization to the worst possible elements of it.
And it's like, dude, if we weren't there, if Missionaries didn't come.
You think Rome would have self corrected slavery?
[00:44:37] Speaker B: Right. Really? Right.
[00:44:39] Speaker A: You think they would have stopped gladiatorial contests?
[00:44:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:42] Speaker A: You think they would have. You think there would be a gentle leadership or democracy where human lives raised up and matter as much as we presume that they should now?
[00:44:52] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Or we should take care of the poor. There's a great book, Charity said if you flew a drone over ancient Rome, you'd have seen places where gladiators were killing each other and state houses. And if you fast forward to the 800s in Rome, you'd have seen big churches and for the first time in history, large institutions to serve the poor and orphanages and hospitals and places to educate the common man. What happened?
[00:45:16] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: Was it season?
[00:45:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:45:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: And when people want to rewind to like, you know, pre Christian Ireland to get back to the roots.
Come on.
[00:45:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And there's a bit of that where people want to be like more Irish and the next guy. So they think like by I'll become a druid. And I think again, they mean well. They just want to like embrace their heritage. But again, it's like, but you're working backwards. You don't want, you don't need to do that. And especially so, you know, if that, that stuff is when Ireland, when the lights were off in Ireland. So it's like you're not, you're not living your heritage by going backwards into darkness,
[00:45:56] Speaker A: back to slavery, child sacrifice, the Irish greeting.
[00:45:59] Speaker B: Yeah, And a lot of that too. A lot of that kind of stuff.
What people think was the old Druid religion is actually kind of made up stuff about 100 years ago.
But again, again, I think people mean well. But if you know someone that loves their Irish heritage, embrace them and affirm that, that's fantastic.
And then maybe have the opportunity to introduce a bit about the great legacy of the great saints. And there's thousands of them.
[00:46:26] Speaker A: There is a literal silly factor with how we kind of make things up and piece things together. Archbishop Shappey, who's the first Native American ordinary, the first Native American bishop, he's like, there's some Catholic missionaries who will go to reservations and say, let's get back to your roots. And they literally start making things up.
[00:46:42] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:43] Speaker A: Like they're making up rituals these people didn't actually do.
[00:46:46] Speaker B: Right.
[00:46:47] Speaker A: And that's kind of piecing it together. It's like, it's a little cringey, man.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: It is.
[00:46:51] Speaker A: It's just straight up cringy.
[00:46:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's where like, if we meet people like that.
We try to hide our cringe face and actually try to engage them and love them and try to give them the truth. Because honestly. Yeah. It's. And what a great privilege it is. Even if you get rejected or you talked bad about it to at least. Well, I love you enough to try to give you the truth because I want you to get to heaven.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: And there's something good in your longing for something spiritual. But, like, let's complete it in Jesus. Like all the.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: Like all the Irish people converted because Jesus was better and is better.
[00:47:27] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:27] Speaker A: Than what the Druids had.
The Irish culture people love and celebrate in St. Patrick's Day.
[00:47:32] Speaker B: Christian Ireland.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: Christian Ireland.
[00:47:34] Speaker B: The great traditional music. Christian Ireland.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: And like Patrick knew, didn't crush. But raised up what was already there.
[00:47:41] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:41] Speaker A: But perfected it in Jesus.
[00:47:43] Speaker B: Yes. Boom.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: It's amazing he wasn't killed, though. He did say this. You referenced this.
[00:47:49] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:47:50] Speaker A: There in Ireland. I'd be glad to pour out my soul, even to the point of death, if the Lord would grant it to me. I think he wanted to be martyred because I'm so much in God's debt.
[00:47:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:58] Speaker A: For he gave me such great grace that many people through me were reborn to God.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: Cool. I think he partly wasn't killed because of the lorica, which I'm going to have you pray at the end of this.
[00:48:09] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: It was a prayer of protection. He prayed every day.
[00:48:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: And those. Actually. It works. Not the prayer, but asking God. And God actually does it for you.
His humility. This is great. This again came from his greatest tragedy in life. Living as a slave.
I was like a stone lying deep in the mud. This is from his confessions.
[00:48:26] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:48:27] Speaker A: Then he who is powerful came and in his mercy, pulled me out and lifted me up and placed me on the top of a great wall.
This is why I must shout aloud and return to the Lord for such great good deeds of his here and now and forever, which the human mind cannot measure.
And he wrote about how people were reborn in baptism. And he ordained priests. And, like, it's all attributed to God. It didn't get to his head that he converted the entire race of Ireland.
[00:48:53] Speaker B: That's the source of it all, the sources of it.
He alone. I mean, if you could have a whole society just about Patrick. I mean, but there's so many great saints and that he helped think of the saints that became saints because of
[00:49:09] Speaker A: him, you know, and then missionaries.
[00:49:12] Speaker B: He converted a lot of the children of kings and stuff like that. And they Became nuns and priests. And they just spread around the world. And they preserved a lot of stuff in the Dark Ages, you know, beautiful manuscripts. The Irish monks. And that spirit of Patrick. Wouldn't it be fantastic or want to be? Please God, we get a favorable judgment when we die to actually get to meet in person.
That almost gets me choked up. To someday get to meet St. Patrick.
[00:49:40] Speaker A: Wow. You're gonna. That would be wow.
[00:49:44] Speaker B: Just to say thank you, you know, Gosh, praise God.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: What a great thought, huh?
[00:49:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And Athena, for anyone of Irish heritage, love your heritage. I mean, love it and embrace it. You know, and there's no greater.
Even though he wasn't born in Ireland, no greater Irishman than St. Patrick. You know, it's like, what a model elements of him. Whether you're male or female, young or old, to embrace what he was.
[00:50:16] Speaker A: And he felt dumb. This blows me away because there's people again watching. You feel not qualified. You might feel a little stupid. Who am I to open my mouth and try to express the faith?
[00:50:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:26] Speaker A: He felt like this because he didn't. A lot of people at his age who became clergy were educated from the time they were children.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: He's a child. He's working with sheep because he's a slave. He's not going to school. And he wrote this in his confession. I was taken prisoner as youth. Because he's explaining why he hadn't written anything else before until he felt he had to to defend his name. And in his ministry, particularly young in the matter of being able to speak.
So he wasn't able to speak and express himself well. And before I knew what I should seek and what I should avoid.
That is why today I blush and I'm afraid to expose my lack of experience and education because I can't express myself with the brief words I would like in my heart and soul. So he's feeling like I have these words in my heart and I literally don't know how to write them down correctly.
Wow.
[00:51:15] Speaker B: Chris, I gotta tell you, and I'm not trying to be false modest here.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:19] Speaker B: I can relate to that so much because I'm a very choppy, awkward speaker and I don't have.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: I think you're smooth, man.
[00:51:26] Speaker B: Well, thank you very much, but I mean.
No, but. And again, being a choppy talker like I am now.
[00:51:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:51:36] Speaker B: Guys like him at a very early age. One of the reasons why I embrace him as my confirmation saint. Just the roots and the heritage. But that he didn't feel like he was the sharpest tool in the shed.
But his faith was great. And look how that moves mountains. And it's like, we can all do that. And so anyone out there who doesn't feel like they're brilliant. Yeah.
You can help lead people to Jesus.
[00:52:02] Speaker A: Amen.
Let's end with the prayer of the Lorica, his prayer of protection. I'm going to give this to you. You're going to read it in your sultry voice, and I want to invite you all to watch and pray this with us and with St. Patrick. This is a legit prayer.
It's not just attributed to St. Patrick. He wrote this prayer. And he would pray this all the time as he'd be on his journeys throughout Ireland with people wanting to kill him and the druids. And like, he's upsetting society in a big way because of the love of Jesus.
[00:52:30] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:52:31] Speaker A: And he's just praying for the protection of God so he can keep his work going.
So pray this with us. And actually, we'll lift this, too, and post it separately with some nice Irish graphics so people can pray this with us on a regular basis.
[00:52:42] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: If you'd like to. I pray this frequently. I love this. This one. And the Canticle of the sun by St. Francis.
[00:52:47] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:52:47] Speaker A: Love these two prayers.
And we'll go straight from you praying this prayer into some Irish music at my house with the Kells, the greatest trad Irish band in history.
And we might even show you a little bit of me singing.
[00:53:02] Speaker B: It's worth seeing.
[00:53:03] Speaker A: It wasn't bad. I didn't do bad.
[00:53:05] Speaker B: It was fantastic.
[00:53:05] Speaker A: And let me sit with them and sing one song.
[00:53:07] Speaker B: You put me out of a job. They don't want me to sing anymore after they heard you.
[00:53:10] Speaker A: Dude, your drumming is sick. And it's. You know what's weird?
[00:53:13] Speaker B: It's gotten better as an older man.
[00:53:16] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: Isn't that amazing?
[00:53:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: Really?
[00:53:19] Speaker A: It's literally better.
[00:53:20] Speaker B: It was adequate before. Now it's getting a little more adequate.
[00:53:23] Speaker A: It's phenomenal, man.
[00:53:25] Speaker B: Thank you. Oh, you rocked that thing. It's the Irish drum. The bow rap. Throw it up. The Irish drum, man.
[00:53:30] Speaker A: Okay, well, let's. Let's pray. And hey, I love you guys. I don't care where you're at in life. If you feel unqualified to spread the gospel, remember St. Patrick. If you feel like you're your lack of education or degrees, or if you feel like your tragedies in life have disqualified you from doing great things, look to the life of St. Patrick. Those are precisely the ways that God's forming you to be the blessing that he's called you to be, that nobody else is. So the lord loves you. St. Patrick does, too. And I love you. And so does Eddie.
[00:53:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, big time.
[00:53:59] Speaker A: But he loves everybody, so he doesn't really count because he's Santa. And again, that's in another show, so he's, like, paid to love people professionally. Anyway, let's. Let's end with the Lorica. In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, actually. Pray the sign of the cross.
[00:54:13] Speaker B: Amen.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through a belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness of the Creator of creation. I arise today through the strength of Christ's birth and his baptism, through the strength of his crucifixion and burial, through the strength of his resurrection and his ascension, through the strength of his descent for the judgment of doom.
I arise today through the strength of the love of cherubim, in obedience of angels, in service of archangels, in the hope of resurrection, to meet with reward, in the prayers of patriarchs, in preachings of the apostles, in faiths of confessors, in innocence of virgins, in deeds of righteous men.
I arise today through the strength of heaven, light of the sun, splendor of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of the wind, depth of the sea, stability of the earth, firmness of the rock. I arise today through God's strength to pilot me, God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, God's host to save me from the snares of the devil, from temptations of vices, from every one who desires me ill, afar and anear, alone or in a multitude, I summon today all these powers between me and evil, against every cruel, merciless power that opposes my body and soul, against incantations of false prophets, against black laws of pagandom, against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry, against spells, of witches and smiths and wizards, against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul. Christ, shield me today against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, against accidents, against so that reward may come to me in abundance. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ When I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through a belief in the threeness, through a confession of the oneness of the Creator of creation.
Amen. Amen.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: In the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, St. Patrick, who relied not on yourself or your own understanding, your own skills, but so clearly as you see in that prayer, relied on God and his power.
Pray for us that we do the same and like you, be world changers in Jesus name.
[00:57:20] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:57:20] Speaker A: Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. I love you, buddy.
[00:57:23] Speaker B: Love you, too. Thanks very much. Thank you very much.
[00:57:26] Speaker A: Okay, let's rock it with the Irish tunes, Sam.
[00:58:07] Speaker B: I brought tortoises from Tenerife and ties from Timbuktu A China rat and a Bengal cat and a Bombay cockatoo Paid
[00:58:17] Speaker A: off I sought her dwelling on a street above the town where an ancient dame upon the line Was hanging out her gown where is me love? She's vanished, sir. About six months ago ago.
With a smart young man that drives the band for Chapman Son and Company.
Oh, I never thought she would prove false or even prove untrue as she sailed away for the Milford Bay on board the Kangaroo.
Sam, It's. It's. It's.
[01:02:28] Speaker B: All right. Thanks very much.
