In 2012, I wrote a blog post about St. Patrick’s Day.

You can read it here.

I don’t think I would change anything about this post today except to add that the band Thin Lizzy was among the small list of Irish influences in my parochial Franco American and German childhood.  I often think about the ways in which music infused my early life and how words from songs inspired me.  I owned a large but not exhaustive collection of Thin Lizzy vinyl and confess to listening to their 1979 release Black Rose: A Rock Legend countless times, especially enjoying “Do Anything You Want to Do.”

This St. Patrick’s Day, I’m listening to With Heart and Voice, a weekly program of sacred choral and organ music.  They’re featuring works from Ireland’s sacred musical heritage.  Included in the playlist was a performance of “I Bind Unto Myself Today,” based on the prayer “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.”  This powerful and defiant prayer is akin to St. Paul’s “whole armor of God” outlined in the sixth chapter of Ephesians.

Here’s a lovely version of the hymn.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate and associated prayers and hymns are inspiring meditations, quite different from today’s cartoonish depiction of Hibernians seen today, awash in corned beef and Guinness.

Sláinte!