Reverend Robert Schuller used to say, "Tough times don't last, tough people do."
Who would want to be stuck in outer space for nine months? If I had gone up for an 8-day mission that turned into a nine month stay, I would have been pretty angry and upset. I would have been complaining non-stop. I would have been very anxious, wondering if I was ever really going to get home. I would have been in a cranky mood the whole time. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams could not have handled the situation more differently. Every time they were interviewed about their situation they seemed calm, cheerful and upbeat, never doubting for a moment that they would eventually be brought home safe and sound. They proclaimed that they did not feel stranded or abandoned. They said that they were fine and that all their needs were being met. They stated that they went into the mission knowing that something like this could happen and were trained to deal with it. The displayed the qualities of faith and patience the this Lenten season calls all of us to practice. I thought that St. Patrick's Day would be the perfect day to honor them because St. Patrick himself had undergone a similar ordeal.
St. Patrick was born in 386 AD. When he was 16 years old, he was kidnapped from his home in England. He was taken to Ireland where he was sold into slavery. For the next six years he worked as a slave, tending sheep in Ireland. Not a religious person before his kidnapping, he turned to God to deal with his misfortune, praying constantly, and growing closer to God as a result. After six years, he was somehow able to escape, and return to his home and family in England. He later became a priest, then a bishop, and later a missionary. Having lived among those practicing pagan religions while he was a slave, he always longed to bring Christianity to those who knew not of it in Ireland. As a missionary, he got his wish. Returning to Ireland, he forgave those who kidnapped him, and helped to spread Christianity throughout the country.
A lifetime of St. Patrick's Days have come and gone and I celebrated them without ever fully realizing who St. Patrick was and why he was so greatly honored. There is so much suffering and misfortune in the world today, and it is starting to affect all of us. May we handle our portion in the same way that Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, and St. Patrick did - with constant prayer, faith and patience, never doubting that God will bring us out of this dark period and back into greener pastures.
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