Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons. Philippians 1:1 ESV

To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Colossians 1:1-2 ESV

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you. Psalm 145:10 ESV

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Originally this blog post was to be a simple history of St. Patrick to commemorate the holiday. However, it has taken a bit of a different turn as you can tell from the title. The Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have a canonization process to officially name specific men and women as “Saints.” Both have given the title of “Saint” to over 11,000 men and women. St. Patrick, (although he was not officially canonized because there was no official process at that time), was still given the title of Saint.

 St. Patrick was born in Britain in the 4^th century. He was kidnapped by Irish pirates as a teenager and taken to Ireland as a slave. He worked as a shepherd. Patrick did eventually escape and returned to Britain and became a priest. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary and brought the people the “good news” about God and Jesus. One story is that St. Patrick used a three leaf clover, a shamrock, to explain the Trinity to the Irish people.

Our first two verses are greetings from Paul in letters to two of the churches he started, one at Philippi and one at Colossae. They both begin by addressing the members of the church as “saints.” The definition of a saint is:  “a person who is holy or set apart for God’s purposes.” So as believers, Christians, we are each set apart and made holy by our faith and salvation in Jesus Christ. We are saints! But before we start asking our friends and family to call us Saint (put your name here), remember that we are saints set apart for God’s purpose and His glory.

By the way, Paul, like St. Patrick, also lived before there was a  canonization process, but was also given the title of saint, St. Paul.

To all my fellow saints in Christ Jesus, peace and grace to you from God the Father (hopefully Paul won’t mind that I used his greeting). Let us embrace our sainthood in Christ Jesus and strive to live out God’s purpose for our lives, to share the good news, to shine love for others, to interact with kindness and forgiveness, and to live up to our calling as sons and daughters and “saints” of the Most High Almighty God. Let us bless the Lord in all that we do!

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me this week as we embrace our saintly status, working for the glory of God in all that we do.

Blessings and joy with purpose, my friends!