Christ 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 my lying down, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my arising.
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(Known as Patrick’s Breastplate, or The deer Cry)
Two things I notice about Patrick’s prayer are that it instilled in him courage and it shows the grand scale hospitality of this highly spiritual leader. It was a volatile and violent time and Patrick had to stand toe to toe with tribal chiefs and Druid priests who could have taken his life. He summoned admirable persuasive tact, love and forgiveness to convert a good deal of Ireland to the Christian faith, baptizing thousands and ordaining hundreds. He also used his skills in building construction. Thus he taught the faith to people, taught clergy to minister to them and enabled communities to build the buildings to sustain their worshipful gatherings and their institutions of learning.
Patrick grew up in Roman Britain. At sixteen he was captured and enslaved in Ireland. For the next six years he worked as a slave for his Irish captors. He escaped on a boat and apparently drifted for a period of time. There is a period of over twenty years where he studied for and developed skills for ministry; some sources say in France, others Rome. But it was his prayer life cultivated as a slave in Ireland that inspired him, that and an ability to speak with and understand the Irish from within their own culture.
Patrick was pre-reformation. There was no Catholic/Protestant divide in his day. He lived from 389 to 461 in a time when Europe was discovering how to be devoted to Christ. Ireland was somewhat isolated from the rest as Patrick was enthusiastically teaching the faith. Soon thereafter the courage and hospitality boiled over and the small island was sending out missionaries inspired by the former slave; a profoundly spiritual and deeply faithful Patrick who came to see Christ in all the people with whom he spoke.
The story goes that during an ambush where a powerful king had surrounded Patrick in order to kill him, he sang the prayer quoted above. As he sang he and his cohorts became invisible. The attackers only saw some deer passing by and heard voices chanting the prayer. This is why it is also called the “Deer Cry.”
Peace, Pastor David
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