Legend states that St Patrick traveled around Ireland using shamrocks to explain the Trinity to the pagan people. While we don’t know if this is true, it is fun to imagine, until the analogy breaks down (as all Trinitarian analogies do) into some sort of heresy.
But what we do know from Patrick’s actual writings is that he undoubtedly worshiped the Triune God. In his Confessio (which can be read in one sitting), he writes, “According to the measure of one’s faith in the Trinity, one should proceed without holding back from danger to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God’s name everywhere with confidence and without fear…” It was his faith in God, and not just any God, but the Triune God of the Bible that drove him in all of his missionary efforts. And it was His trust in God, who had saved Him both spiritually and physically while a slave in Ireland, that overcame all his fears.
We are about to sing St Patrick’s Breastplate, which is an old Irish prayer of protection, called a Lorica. In this song, like Patrick, we are invoking the strong Name of our Triune God, seeking His protection from all that would come against us in this world.
One means of grace, of spiritual protection that our Triune God has given us is this sacrament, the Lord’s Supper. Here at this Table, as we partake of this bread and wine, we are remembering not only the work of the Son, but “the Three-in-One and One-in-Three.” We remember the Father who sent His Son and adopted us into His family. We remember the Son’s sacrificial death on our behalf. And we remember the Holy Spirit who resides in us and seals the benefits of this sacrament to our hearts.
And so with deep and abiding faith in the Holy Trinity, Come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.