Celebrating St Patrick: A witness to the love of God with Fr Michael Liston - 14 March 2021 (SS102fm programme excerpt)(S11E17b)

Ahead of the national holiday on 17th March we dive back into the SS102fm archive to an 2013 interview with a dear friend of the programme, Fr. Micheal Liston, who joined John and Ann to reflect on the role of St Patrick as a witness to God's love.

Originally broadcast 17 March 2013 Fr. Micheal introduces St. Patrick as someone who suffered a lot in his youth, but in the middle of all his suffering, he became conscious of God's presence and love.  Fr. Micheal encouraged us to set aside the external celebrations of St. Patrick's day to look at the model of St. Patrick as someone who had discovered the mysterious presence of God in his life.  We are invited to reflect on the reality that God is here with us as He was for Patrick.  God is fond of us. God has time for us. 

St. Patrick is also a great model of how we should respond to God's grace in our lives.  Patrick recognised his own limitations and the abundance of God's grace working in his life.  Fr. Micheal invited us to confess, as Patrick did, that with all our limitations, it is God who has done this good work in our lives.  Patrick gives glory to God, because the glory is God's.  God has a sheer ghrá (affection/love) for us and we are called through prayer and humility to imitate Patrick by responding to God's grace and love with a spirit of self-giving and gratitude.  This is the true spirit of Patrick.

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