Saint Patrick’s Day: A Riddle, a Pot and a Book

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would share a picture from my honeypot collection.  This is one of my “newer” pots.  It’s from 1979 and I picked it up at a thrift store.  I think it’s sweet.  It makes me think of warm weather.

I want to recommend to you a delightful book from the venerable Landmark series by Random House.  The Life of Saint Patrick by Quentin Reynolds is worth reading and discussing with your students.  So much of what is written about Saint Patrick is pure conjecture, and this book is no different.  Reynolds has managed to weave the legends with the facts into a narrative that ends up giving you a great historical perspective of the times in which Saint Patrick lived.  But something interesting happens along the way…

Patrick’s zeal for spreading the Good News is spelled out clearly through most of the book. Here we find Patrick explaining what he believes to the king’s son:

“But here is how we have been saved.  Jesus Christ, Who was God as well as man, came into the world and died on the Cross for us.  It is Jesus Who suffered and died for our sins.  It is He Who died in our place.” p. 75

 And here we find Patrick’s legendary object lesson of the Trinity:

“This is really silly.” The Druid laughed.  “How can one god be three persons?”

Patrick smiled and bent over to pluck a shamrock from the grass.  Holding it up, he said, “This shamrock has three leaves and a stem.  It is only complete the way it grows, yet although it has a stem and three leaves, it is only one shamrock.  So it is with my God.” p. 147

Oddly enough, by the end of the book there seems to be a shift in the message.  In the exciting chapter, “Patrick Overcomes the Power of the Druids”, we find Patrick obliterating the Druids’ huge stone idol.  Just look at the dust jacket picture!  Immediately after the idol fell and smashed into a million pieces, we read this exchange between Patrick and an impressed onlooker:

“Teach us, O holy Patrick, the true path, and we shall follow it,” he implored.  “Tell us what to do.”

“Just learn to be friends with God,” Patrick said simply. p.165

Huh?  Did I miss something here?  Well, this is exactly why this book is worth reading and discussing with your students.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

-Nancy