2006 Seminarian Leadership Conference

Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest

Friday, September 15, 2006

Meditation on St. Patrick’s Breastplate II

The Rev. Catherine Tyndall Boyd -- ETSS Class of 2006

Christ be with me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ beside me,
Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort
and restore me.

Christ beneath 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.

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Words: attributed to St. Patrick (372-466); trans. Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), 1889. Music: St. Patrick's Breastplate and Gartan (verse 6)

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ be with me. An imperative. It is a command—a request—as in “hold me.” Christ be with me is an invocation, a summons. The wonder and the mystery of it is that I can invoke—you can summon—the very Word of God to come near.

Christ within and behind, Christ before and beside me.

Now we see, though, that this is not simply a summons. It is an assertion of reality. Christ is within, behind, before, beside. As the wind of a summer storm moves through the house when the windows are open…as the waters of a flood rise and go where they please…Christ is … within, behind, before, beside. Christ is …beneath and above me. Christ comes to win you, to comfort and restore you.

Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

But let us not fall into error of isolation: Christ’s presence with me means nothing apart from Christ’s presence with you. The body does not consist of one member, but of many. Many members, one body. The eternal love-dance of the Trinity, into which we are invited, is not a couple’s dance: it is more of a mosh pit. We are the body of Christ and individually members of it. The throng, the multitude which is the body of Christ dances together. And when we dance together, our unity is revealed.

We are inextricably bound. We share the heart of Christ, we share a central nervous system. If you suffer, we all suffer. If you are honored, all rejoice.

We are bound together. We are bound.

I bind unto myself today the strong Name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three. Of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word: praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord. Amen.