Walking into the parish hall of Our Lady of Hope Church in
Potomac Falls March 17, guests were welcomed outside by a bagpiper from
Christendom College in Front Royal and inside, there were green lights strung
up across the hall and shamrocks on the tables. The smell of corned beef and
cabbage, fresh cookies and fruits permeated the room. A band played Irish
music, Irish dancers spun and jumped across the stage and a duo of brothers
played pennywhistle.
The sea of people dressed in green were at the church to celebrate
the Irish feast and hear author Joseph Pearce speak about the prayer called the
Breastplate of St. Patrick.
The Institute of Catholic Culture hosted the event in partnership
with Father William P. Saunders, diocesan episcopal vicar of faith formation
and pastor of Our Lady of Hope.
Pearce is a senior editor at the Augustine Institute and the
Tolkien and Lewis Chair in Literary Studies at Holy Apostles College and Seminary
in Cromwell, Conn.
“I hope the attendees take away a greater knowledge of not just
St. Patrick, but about the beauty of the prayer of St. Patrick,” said Pearce in
an interview before his presentation. “It is deep in theology and Catholic
spirituality.”
Pearce pointed to the beauty of the prayer.
“The fact that this is so beautiful as a translation makes us
imagine how beautiful it must be in the original Gaelic,” he said.
Pearce went through the prayer section by section.
“Patrick rises in the morning and causes us to do the same thing
by invoking the power of Christ’s crucifixion and the whole of salvation
history that is encapsulated and incorporated into his mystical body, the
church, as strength, and that strength is connected to grace,” he said.
“Without that supernatural grace we can do nothing. There’s no getting to
heaven through the strength of our own will.”
Mike Hadro, a parishioner of St. Andrew the Apostle Church in
Clifton, said coming to the event was an opportunity to get together with old
friends from the institute and enjoy the faith. “The richness of the faith
shone tonight,” he said.
Barbara Aldridge, a fellow parishioner, said she enjoyed the
presentation. “It was very moving,” she said. “I wasn’t familiar with the
prayer before I came and Joseph Pearce opened it up for me.”
