Let's continue with the second part of Saint Patrick's Breastplate. It's all about Jesus:
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
In this part of the prayer we focus on the very person and historically significant actions of Jesus Christ. If you remember, when you "arise" you are exerting your will to choose to bind unto yourself God's choosing of you.
The most important proof of God's care for us was when He came to Earth as a baby, became one of us, identified with us in life and death, and lived an ideal, sinless life of love before us. The smart guys with the degrees in theology call this the Incarnation. In one of the more than than three hundred fulfilled prophetic promises of God's coming to Earth, He even calls Himself "the-God-Who-Is-With-Us," or Immanuel. This person called Jesus came to be a signpost of a new way to live. He came to reveal awesome truth about God, the Father, and His desire that we all should know Him and have a real relationship with Him. He also came to show us the life that we all desire to live, a life that has meaning, purpose, and that makes a difference for all time. Jesus said it this way: "I am the way, the truth and the life." I would say it like this: "Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
Jesus is the Way
Jesus made this radical claim about himself without apology. He said it simply and without any kind of equivocation. He was not apologetic when He said it. He really meant it when He said, "No one comes to the Father but by Me." He didn't give a three hour discourse to explain himself. He just said "I am the Way" and meant it. When you meet the person who says that there are many ways up the proverbial mountain, he has to meet Jesus at the bottom of that mountain, and Jesus is simply going to say to him "I AM THE WAY."
Jesus Is the Truth
For people in today's a la carte menu spiritual atmosphere, this statement is hard to handle. Even the majority of Christian believers generally think of Jesus as a thinker or philosopher or prophet. When we speak and think like this we basically bring Jesus down to our level in order to try and understand him. There is a danger of attempting to deconstruct or demythologize Jesus in order to explain him. But the truth about Jesus is that He IS the Truth. Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. He is the very essence of all Truth for all time. When someone met Jesus on the road to Nazareth and talked with Him, they met the Truth. Jesus didn't just teach truth, or speak truth, or even learn truth, He was and continues to be, Truth itself.
Jesus is the Life
The writings about Jesus in the New Testament describe two kinds of life. One is called "bios" and refers to mere biological, fleshly life. The other kind of life is called "zoe" and refers to the kind of life that God Himself possesses. It was said of Jesus that "In Him was life and that life was the light of men." In these days we call this kind of life "eternal" life because it is the nature of God to be outside of and unbounded by time. Jesus possessed both the "bios" and the "zoe" kinds of life, thus the statement "In Him" was life. My favorite way to put this is that even the most dogged materialist atheist in the world relies on Jesus for his very life. His life is sustained moment by moment by the very love, grace and choice of Jesus Christ. When I think of a Cosmic Christ, this is what I imagine. Jesus is so filled with Life, the eternal God kind of "zoe" life, that all things have their beginning and end in Him, and are thus sustained by Him. So when Jesus claimed that He was the Life, he was saying something so radical, that either he was telling the truth and is who He says He is, or He was completely insane, or, He was delusional and altogether pure evil. As C.S. Lewis is famous for saying, He was either Lord, a liar, or a lunatic.
So as we arise and pray this prayer, we are reminded that Patrick's Lord is also ours.
St. Patrick's Breastplate
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 His 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,
the rays of the sun,
the radiance of the moon,
the splendor of fire,
the speed of lightning,
the swiftness of the wind,
the depth of the sea,
the stability of the earth
the firmness of rock.
I arise today
through the power of God:
God's might to comfort 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 lead me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's Heavenly Host to save me
from the snares of the devil,
from temptations to sin,
from all who wish me ill,
from near and afar,
alone and with others.
May Christ shield me today
against poison and fire,
against drowning and wounding,
so that I may fulfill my mission
and bear fruit in abundance.
Christ behind and before me,
Christ beneath and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my right and on my left,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone that speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
from: JavaJazzJesus
Introduction
This is the first part of a short series on St. Patrick's famous prayer called the Breastplate of St. Patrick. Saint Patrick was actually born on the island where Britain is now, in the south of Scotland. He was kidnapped as a young boy and taken to Ireland and lived for several years as a slave shepherding sheep. It was during this time of great suffering and duress that Patrick rediscovered the faith of his youth. He said of himself that he prayed as many as a hundred prayers in the day and as many at night. He had frequent angelic visitations, and in fact was led to escape from his captors by an angel. He returned to his boyhood home, but eventually went to Gaul to seek out spiritual training amongst the Christians there. Patrick tells us in his Confessions the powerful experience that led him back to the place of his captivity, Ireland:
And there I saw in the night the vision of a man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were, `The voice of the Irish'; and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice---they were those beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the Western Sea---and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: `We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more.'
And I was quite broken in heart, and could read no further, and so I woke up. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord gave to them according to their cry.
And another night---whether within me, or beside me, I know not, God knoweth---they called me most unmistakably with words which I heard but could not understand, except that at the end of the prayer He spoke thus: `He that has laid down His life for thee, it is He that speaketh in thee'; and so I awoke full of joy.
So it was that at age forty-eight Patrick left with the blessings of his elders and a few companions to reach the Irish with God's message of love, freedom and reconciliation.
Invocation
The first section of the Breastplate begins with the statement "I arise today..." Other translations also say, " I bind to myself today..." The word "arise" implies choice on the part of the believer, an intention to seek and walk in covenant with God, in a binding, unbreakable union guaranteed by the very nature of God Himself. This is your choice to choose God's choosing of you.
The next part of the prayer declares where the strength to arise comes from, the mighty strength of an almighty God. When we pray, when we work, when we love, when we rest, we do it all in the power of the One who is that energetic, all-consuming, eternal fire. God is the fire within us. God does not give us strength, He IS our strength.
To invoke is to declare or decree on behalf of an authority. The next statement, "the invocation of the Trinity," is a call to the God of the scriptures to show up, to become manifest presently, and exercise authority and rule. When you invoke the Trinity, you are quite literally playing with Fire. When you invoke the Trinity, you are calling on Him to come and hear what you are about to say. In a word, you are serious!
The essence of the next phrase, "Through a belief in the Threeness," is belief. You come to God in an attitude and posture of trust and confidence in His ability to hear you and do what you ask. Your trust and belief is in Him. This is not mere mental assent or agreement to a set of doctrines or creeds, but a real experiential knowledge of his goodness, faithfulness and love toward you. It is in this confidence, this belief, that you pray.
True belief leads to confession. The love of God is downloaded to our hearts by the kind intention of the Father. We experience God's goodness in salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son. We are convinced of the faithfulness of God through the witness of Scripture enlightening our hearts and minds through the power of the Holy Spirit. Reminded of these things, we are engulfed in the praise that comes forth from a grateful heart, leading to a confession, a song bursting forth, of the wonder, the magnificence, the beauty and the grandeur of the God who is the Creator of all creation.
It's time to pray the Breastplate...
St. Patrick's Breastplate
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 His 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,
the rays of the sun,
the radiance of the moon,
the splendor of fire,
the speed of lightning,
the swiftness of the wind,
the depth of the sea,
the stability of the earth
the firmness of rock.
I arise today
through the power of God:
God's might to comfort 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 lead me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's Heavenly Host to save me
from the snares of the devil,
from temptations to sin,
from all who wish me ill,
from near and afar,
alone and with others.
May Christ shield me today
against poison and fire,
against drowning and wounding,
so that I may fulfill my mission
and bear fruit in abundance.
Christ behind and before me,
Christ beneath and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my right and on my left,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone that speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Editor's Note: If you want to read the entire series I Arise: Ancient Paths To Prayer With Power in an e-book format(pdf), click on the picture above.
