St Patrick's Breastplate

Wikipedia offers the opinion that St Patrick's Breastplate was inspired by Druidic incantations. That is probably true as a Catholic page mentions that the guy who owned him as a slave was also a druidic priest. I didn't know that before, nor was I aware that he was born in Scotland. I had read before that he was English. Turns out his parents were Roman Britons but they were established in Scotland.

The other day I looked for a longer version of St Patrick's famous prayer because the snippet I added on St Patrick's Day lacked my favourite lines...the ones that stressed that we should see each other through Christ..as he stands betwixt each of us (and has paid for all our sins to each other.) Whenever I think of St Patrick's Day since encountering those thoughts, I consider afresh this idea that we should see each other through Christ-tinted glasses. Even if this wasn't the original intent of the Breastplate, its a worthy thought. Maybe this confusion was inspired by listening to John Michael Talbot's "Betwixt Me" on his Celtic God of Life cd? I haven't listened to it in awhile....

*starts rummaging through her cd rack*

Yep! That was it.

Ah well..the original Breastplate Prayer is pretty good as it stands.


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's birth 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 judgement of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In prediction of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance 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 save me

From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
so that there may come to me 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 when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone 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

Happy St Patrick's Day!

May you have:
A world of wishes at your command
God and his angels close at hand
Friends and family their love impart,
And Irish blessings in your heart.

May God grant you many years to live,
For sure he must be knowing
The earth has angels all too few
And Heaven is overflowing.

These things I warmly wish to you-
Someone to love
Some work to do
A bit o' sun
A bit o' cheer
And a guardian angel always near.

May you be in
Heaven a half hour before the
Devil knows you're dead!

May those who love us, love us
And those who don't love us,
May God turn their hearts
And if he can't turn their hearts,
May he turn their ankles
So we will know them by their limping!



May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.




May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.

May the best day of your past
Be the worst day of your future.

God is good, but never dance in a small boat.


As you slide down the banister of life,
May the splinters never point in the wrong direction!

May you always have
Walls for the winds,
A roof for the rain,
Tea beside the fire,
Laughter to cheer you,
Those you love near you,
And all your heart might desire!

Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
And live every day as if it were your last.

May Christ e'er be our companion
May true friends stand by our side
May her history remind us all
Of Ireland's faith and pride.
May God bless us with happiness
May love and faith abide.

Grant me a sense of humor, Lord,
the saving grace to see a joke,
To win some happiness from life,
And pass it on to other folks.

May the good saints protect you
And bless you today
And may troubles ignore you
Each step of the way

Christ be with me, Christ be within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.


FROM THE BREASTPLATE OF SAINT PATRICK

Deep peace of the running waves to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the smiling stars to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you
AN OLD GAELIC PRAYER

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Go mbeannai Dia duit
(May God Bless You)

Avatar & Wonderland

We finally got around to seeing Avatar last week (Hurray for matinees :) For once I agree with the hype. You've probably seen pictures of the incredible backdrops & Na'vi tribe, but let me tell you...stills can NOT do them justice! It is an AMAZING movie. I don't think I have ever cared so deeply for CG creations. The plotline has been done before, but I liked some of the touches even there. Jake never lied about who or what he was, which was a nice change. Okay, he did leave out an important point, but he made up for that too. :-) What Ferngully did poorly, this movie does extremely well...and only the head of the military wasn't a full-fledged character. One of the best scenes had Na'vi Lady Neytiri holding Jake's unconscious body. Both as a CG composite AND as a dramatic moment it totally worked. I related to her distress for Jake, and that is quite an accomplishment!



Disney's 2010 live action effort, Alice in Wonderland was less successful, despite a very strong cast and the ppuurrfect Cheshire Cat. The makeup they gave Depp's Mad Hatter was a definite distraction from his otherwise strong performance. The frequently grim, Burton-esque landscapes didn't help much either, though the plotline made sense of them. I give the whole experience a B+. The CG work was very good, the 3-D aspect did add to the experience, and I enjoyed the idea of this being set after the books. I felt the narrative was pretty (un:)reasonable, though not very deep...up to the end. I find I agree with those I overheard in the departing crowd. Alice herself was great but that ending needed work! Another small nit bugged me (heh)...the character of the Knave of Hearts seemed hugely inspired by Brad Dourif's roles as Wormtongue & Saavedro. I wondered why they didn't just hire him? DD opines that he might be too old now to reasonably represent the Red Queen's interest in a 'young subordinate.' (She's not designed to look very old herself, so DD might be right.)