How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. [Psalm 1:1-3 (CSB]
When we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, I suspect the revered bishop who brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century wouldn’t recognize this day in his honor. Originally a religious feast, it’s now a day for parades, sales, “Kiss Me I’m Irish” t-shirts, corned beef and cabbage, music, dancing, and lots of green (including hair, cookies, the Chicago River, milk shakes, and kegs of beer). St. Patrick, however, would recognize the common symbol of the day: the shamrock. Of course, to Patrick, the shamrock, with its three leaflets bound by a common stem, was a metaphor for the Holy Trinity. The shamrock’s three leaflets also came to symbolize faith, hope, and love.
“The luck of the Irish” may trace back to the thousands of superstitions in Irish folklore. (Getting married in May is bad luck but seeing a white horse in the morning is good!) The “lucky” four-leaf clover has its origins in ancient Celtic folklore. Irish and Celtic myths and legends also tell of fairies (Aes Sídhe) and pesky goblins (Púca) who were known to hand out both good and bad luck to humans. Nevertheless, it’s hard to see how a people who were invaded by Vikings, suppressed at the hand of England, suffered mass starvation during the Irish Potato Famine, failed at every revolution, and were treated like third class citizens upon their arrival in the U.S. could be called “lucky.”
According to Edwin T. O’Donnell of Holy Cross College, “the luck of the Irish” originally was a derogatory phrase here in the United States. During the silver and gold rush days of the 19th century, some of the most successful miners were Irish or Irish/American. Saying a miner’s success was “just the luck of the Irish” meant that it was mere happenstance and had nothing to do with the hours of drudgery the miner endured, the danger he faced, the sacrifices he made, the loneliness he suffered, or his skill with a pick and shovel.
Anne, a woman in my Bible study, mentioned her daughter’s recent school assignment. The girl and her parents were to paste pictures of the things that made them lucky on a large green construction paper shamrock. A woman of faith, Anne didn’t want to be one of those parents who make a mountain out of every molehill encountered in public school. Nevertheless, she credits God (not luck) with her family’s blessings, so she and her daughter pondered how to proceed with the assignment in a way that honors God. They pasted photos of their family on their “Lucky Family” shamrock and then wrote these words: “No luck involved! We are blessed by the grace of God to be a happy family!”
Attributing their happy family to luck would be as insulting to God as saying the success of a miner who’d struggled in difficult circumstances to stake his claim was just “the luck of the Irish.” Nevertheless, that construction paper shamrock with its three leaves also symbolizes what enables Anne’s family to live with joy, peace, forgiveness, and confidence: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who govern and fill their lives. Moreover, the happiness of her family has to do with their faith, hope, and love (both for God and for one another). There was no “lucky” fourth leaflet on their shamrock because luck has nothing to do with it; God, however, does!
Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. [James 1:16-17 (CSB)]
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Having spared Israel’s first-born males during the final plague on Egypt, God called for every first-born Israelite male, whether man or beast, to be consecrated to Him. The entire male population of the tribe of Levi was 22,000 (about the same number of first-born Israelite men) and God substituted the Levites for the other first-born males. Substituting the Levites for the first-born male in every tribe centralized the sacred duties to one tribe without disrupting the other tribes’ families.
In 1986, holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” That thought, however, has a longer history. In 1897, in George Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple, these words were spoken: “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.” The evil of indifference can be found as far back as 474 BC (during Judah’s exile) in the story of Esther and as recently as today’s news.
The only two miracles recorded in all four gospels are the resurrection of Jesus and His feeding of the 5,000. Since the gospel writers only told us the number of men at that al fresco meal, Biblical scholars estimate the actual number eating those loaves and fish to be more than double that figure. Perhaps it’s because of the magnitude of that miracle that people often want a logical (meaning earthly) explanation of how Jesus did it and skeptics love to offer their own version of the events.
When reading the narratives of the Old Testament, it’s tempting to think that some of the stories are more legend than history. Take the story of Balaam, the pagan prophet hired by King Balak to curse the Israelites, who ended up blessing the Israel and pronouncing disaster on its enemies. Since this took place around 1407 BC, it’s easy to question the story’s accuracy. Balaam’s existence, however, has extra-biblical non-Israelite confirmation.
Before stepping inside of the Bern Münster Cathedral, you’ll probably stop and stare at the archway above the main entrance. There you’ll see 294 carved sandstone figures in a graphic illustration of God’s final judgment when the wicked are separated from the righteous. To your right are the naked damned souls in the midst of flames while, on your left, the righteous stand clothed in white and marked with the seal of God on their foreheads. Lady Justice with her scales and the Archangel Michael with his sword stand in the center. The entire scene is surrounded by larger statues of various saints and martyrs as well as the five wise virgins and the five foolish ones who weren’t ready for the bridegroom’s return!
Devotions of the Heart 