I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the 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 judgment 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 predictions 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 witches 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.

This prayer is often called "St. Patrick's Breastplate" because of those parts of it which seek God's protection.  It is also sometimes called "The Deer's Cry".

Statue of Saint Patrick located on top of his mountain in Western Ireland.

Ca. 373 - Ca. 493 A.D.

St. Patrick

  385-461 A.D.?

Saint Patrick's "Breastplate" Prayer (The Prayer Foundation)

Today is the day of my dd Mary's Spiritual Birthday.  She was baptised this day, back in 1996.  What a glorious road it has been, raising this precious girl up in the church.  She has such a heart for the Lord and always has, from as early as she could speak. 

I have provided some information regarding Baptism, from the Lutheran point of view.  We are Missouri-Synod Lutherans.  If you do not agree with infant baptism, you are fully within your right, but please do not come onto my blog and post nasty things and tell me how I am wrong.  I will delete any posts I deem ugly, spiteful, nasty, or that appear just plain argumentative.  Thanks! 

The Dove - This is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, from the account of Jesus' baptism. "Then John gave this testimony: 'I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I would not have known Him, except that the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.'" - John 1:32-34

Holy Baptism - Holy Baptism is represented by the shell, which pours water. The baptismal candle represents the Holy Spirit, which appeared as flames with the Apostles on Pentecost. The Bible underneath it all is God's Word, as Holy Baptism is the water and the Word, through which the Holy Spirit works. At the center is Christ, represented by a common Greek Christogram combined with a cross.

Holy Baptism in Luther's Larger Catechism

 

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

Taken Prisoner By Irish Raiders

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. Although his father was a Christian deacon, it has been suggested that he probably took on the role because of tax incentives and there is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. (There is some dispute over where this captivity took place. Although many believe he was taken to live in Mount Slemish in County Antrim, it is more likely that he was held in County Mayo near Killala.) During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian. (It is also believed that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity during his captivity.)

Guided By Visions

After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice-which he believed to be God's-spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.

To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation-an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission-to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish. (Interestingly, this mission contradicts the widely held notion that Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland.)

Bonfires and Crosses

Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. (Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, most Irish practiced a nature-based pagan religion. The Irish culture centered around a rich tradition of oral legend and myth. When this is considered, it is no surprise that the story of Patrick's life became exaggerated over the centuries-spinning exciting tales to remember history has always been a part of the Irish way of life.)

History Channel

Picture: Silent Night' Chapel, Oberndorf, Austria (courtesy of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland. © 1977, Wayne Bronner).

The music on the right, Normandy Carol, played by Don Irwin on his Merry Christmas album, is a favorite of mine.  I looked up the song on cyberhymnal and here are the lyrics:

Words: Ri­chard Slat­er, in All the World, De­cem­ber 1892.

Music: Nor­man­dy Car­ol, anon­y­mous (MI­DI, score). Al­ter­nate tune:

• Cra­dle Song, Will­iam J. Kirk­patr­ick, 1895 (MI­DI, score)

The Advent Wreath is a Lutheran custom which originated in Eastern Germany. Advent Wreaths are round...having no beginning and no ending... sybolizing God's eternity and mercy, of which every season of Advent is a new reminder. It is also likened to the circle of life.

The Advent Wreath is made of evergreens to symbolize the everlasting God and immortality of humankind. Evergreens also represent the victory of life through darkness and challenge. The fact that an evergreen can live through Winter signifies the strength of life itself. Green is also the color of the Church, representative of hope and new life. Four candles...three of purple or violet, symbolizing penance, sorrow, longing and expectation, and one candle of rose or pink to represent hope and coming joy...are placed within the wreath as symbols of the four weeks of Advent. These are replaced with white candles for the Christmas Season which ends with Epiphany. Wreaths are an ancient symbol of victory and to Christians, symbolize the fulfillment of time in the coming of Christ and the glory of his birth.

I know many of you on here are not of the Lutheran faith, but please bear with me.  I am not up to a debate on who is right or wrong regarding the issue of Baptism, or any other issue regarding doctrine.  We all believe that our Lord, Jesus Christ, shed His blood on the cross for our sins, and that belief in Him is the only way to salvation.

Now, that being said.  We are Lutherans, Missouri-Synod Lutherans, to be exact.  Our children, to become full members of the Lutheran church, must complete instruction in Luther's Shorter Catechism.  My daughter just started fifth grade level studies this year in our homeschool.  They want to include her in an accelerated Confirmation class at church, not because she is gifted or anything, they just want to include as many children as possible, 5th grade and up.  We do not have a full-time pastor.  Ours retired and we have an interim, part-time pastor.  He saw the need for a Confirmation class, so he is trying to take care of as many children as possible, in as short of time as possible.

Here is the problem.  My daughter is stressing over the pressure.  She loves the Bible.  She loves singing hymns all day.  She loves the Lord, and has for as long as she/we can remember.  She used to have her PreK teacher in tears over the heartfelt things dd would speak of regarding Jesus.  Now, she is being pressured and criticized because she could not recite the books of the Old Testament when asked.  She had one week's time to do this.  We had never thought of having her memorize them prior to this.  I guess it was a failure on our part.  It just never entered our minds that she should memorize these in order.  She knows a lot of them, just not all of them, in order.

Our problem is, we are not sure if she should proceed with the class.  I guess it would be good experience, even if she isn't Confirmed at the end.  But, I also see it as humiliating and very stressful to her.  The other children are older and seem to kind of mock her when she doesn't know the answers. 

Prayer.  Lots of prayer needed on this.  I don't want to mess this up any more than it already has.

Any constructive comments are welcome.  Any hateful, snideful or plain nasty comments will be deleted.

*Edited for spelling errors, at least those I found!