Margaret Flanigan

I grew up in the Chicago area where Saint Patrick is venerated as the patron saint of binge drinking and political parades, so imagine my surprise when I found out that he was actually an incredibly courageous and holy man…

If you think that Saint Patrick was all about wearing “Kiss Me I’m Irish!” buttons and eating corned beef and cabbage, I encourage you to read the real story behind the holiday.  Here is a short article to get you started.  Here is a longer, more detailed article if you are interested.

Here is a lovely video of his “Breastplate” prayer set to music:

Here is the text of the prayer:

The Deer’s Cry or The Breastplate of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with 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 the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of 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 snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose 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 to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
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 when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.

I am back in my office today after spending several days in Madison taking care of my daughter who was very sick with the flu.  She is much better now.  Thanks to everyone who sent get-well wishes.

I am trying to get caught up with phone calls and emails.  I know I owe lead packets to a few people too.  I am working my way through the list!

My daughter has the flu so I am in Madison taking care of her, probably until at least Monday evening.

If you need me you can email me.

It is coming up on one year since my father passed away so I’m thinking of him a lot lately.   His death hit me very hard and it took me several months to get back on course and now I feel like I just want to get through this without getting caught up in it again.

He had a pulmonary embolism on March 17, 2008 while he was sitting at the breakfast table.  I called 911 and they came and did the whole thing with the paddles and they were able to revive him but he never regained consciousness and he died in the hospital on March 22, 2008.

He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s and had really declined terribly in the months before his death.  I couldn’t prevent him from pulling his hearing aids out and destroying them so it became very difficult to communicate with him.  He had become incontinent and extremely argumentative.  He was increasingly disoriented and frightened and agitated.  I felt that could barely take care of him and I was starting to think that perhaps he would be better off in a nursing home.

But when I think of him now I remember the happy years when he first came to live with us.  He was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s then and his impairment was barely noticeable.  He enjoyed everything around him and delighted in every little detail of daily life.  He spent his days reading the newspaper at the dining room table right outside my office so I could keep an eye on him while I worked.  I had bought him a collection of big band CDs and he listened to them over and over (driving my children crazy.)  He enjoyed the pets and he loved sitting out on the porch.  After dinner he liked to watch TV, especially America’s Funniest Home Videos, I guess because he didn’t need to follow any plot.  While he was here the Cubs and Bears both had some good seasons and I loved watching the games with him.  I cannot tell you what a joy it was to share those years with him.

So now it has been a year without him and I am back on track with my life…  But every mention of St. Patrick’s Day reminds me of his death and how bad things had gotten right before he died.   I am trying to find a way to stay focused on the good times and to grieve without feeling overwhelmed by grief.

Meghan O’Rourke is blogging very movingly at Slate.com about her experience with grief following the death of her mother.   Reading her posts makes me cry but then I feel much better.

Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project Blog has also been very helpful to me recently.  There is a lot of very practical, down to eath advice about what it actually means to be happy and how to maximize your own experience of happiness.

One of the (many) things that amazed and delighted my dad was the transformation that occurred when I took my dog in to be clipped in the spring.  Here are “before and after” pictures that I took of the two of them.  My dad loved these pictures…