happy st. patrick's day!

like yesterday, i'm too swamped to do a large a.m. post, but i couldn't let the occasion pass to pay tribute to st. patrick of ireland, @ present my favorite among the saints. not only is he associated w/ ireland, but legend has it that he used a shamrock to explain the trinity -- always a plus for the boston celtic- and notre dame fightin' irish-inclined (and, if you are interested, it is worth noting that the boston red sox are wearing green today, which prompted the color change in the i am harvey pekar banner in solidarity w/ said sox). if you have a moment, during lenten solemnity or st. paddy's festivity (whichever is the case), reflect upon "st. patrick's breastplate," a prayer st. pat wrote in 433 (amy welborn has an informative bit on her blog about whether st. patrick actually wrote it -- and whether we should care). one "version" of the prayer reads:

i take for my sureties:

the power of god to guide me,
the might of god to uphold me,
the wisdom of god to teach me,
the eye of god to watch over me,
the ear of god to hear me,
the word of god to give me speech,
the hand of god to protect me,
the way of god to go before me,
the shield of god to shelter me . . . .

christ be with me, christ before me,
christ behind me, christ within me,
christ beneath me, christ above me,
christ at my right, christ at my left,
christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
christ in every eye that sees me,
christ in every ear that hears me.

what a way to see the world! blessings on each of you this holy day.