St. Patrick Breastplate Prayer

St. Patrick Breastplate Prayer

  The prayer of the Breastplate of Saint Patrick is a prayer that I have woven into my prayer life. It is a prayer that states many aspects of our faith. The faith that we live and how we need to be living it. It also shows us how to allow the Trinity to work in our lives and how it is not us by ourselves but the Trinity that is working through us. The prayer includes those of heaven and of earth that are united to love, serve and protect those who seek the kingdom of God. 

     There is power in the prayer as I read it aloud. I have read this many times but when you hear what you are saying the words seem, to me anyway, to go to my mind, soul, and heart. Read the prayer out loud and do not rush the prayer but pause and reflect on each paragraph and let it sink into your soul. I have included the full version below so you may have it to read.

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may the prayer of St. Patrick’s Breastplate bring you peace. 

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 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 the Archangels,
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of Prophets,
in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of Confessors,
in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:
light of Sun, brilliance 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 secure me:
against snares of devils, against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature, against everyone who
shall wish me ill, afar and a near, alone and in a crowd.

I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils):
against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul, against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry,
against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry,
against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul.
Christ to protect me today
against poison, against burning,
against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come 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 in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man 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.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Christ. May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 244

Reading 1

IS 65:17-21

Thus says the LORD:

Lo, I am about to create new heavens

and a new earth;

The things of the past shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness

in what I create;

For I create Jerusalem to be a joy

and its people to be a delight;

I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and exult in my people.

No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,

or the sound of crying;

No longer shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;

He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,

and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.

They shall live in the houses they build,

and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 30:2 AND 4, 5-6, 11-12A AND 13B

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear

and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;

you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in,

but with the dawn, rejoicing.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;

O LORD, be my helper.”

You changed my mourning into dancing;

O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Verse Before The Gospel

AM 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,

and the LORD will be with you.

Gospel

JN 4:43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.

For Jesus himself testified

that a prophet has no honor in his native place.

When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,

since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;

for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,

where he had made the water wine.

Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.

When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,

he went to him and asked him to come down

and heal his son, who was near death.

Jesus said to him,

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

The royal official said to him,

“Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”

The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.

While the man was on his way back,

his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.

He asked them when he began to recover.

They told him,

“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”

The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,

“Your son will live,”

and he and his whole household came to believe.

Now this was the second sign Jesus did

when he came to Galilee from Judea.