From St. Patrick's Confessio (or Declaration),
the following words describe his understanding of evangelistic mission.
Patrick, an Englishman, lived sometime between the mid 4th-mid 5th c. AD.
He was captured and enslaved in Ireland for six years. Having returned to
England, he was called by God back to Ireland as a missionary. Through
his work, thousands of Irish came to faith. Here is his understanding of
the Biblical basis for missions. The understandings that Scripture calls for a mission to foreign lands and all people, that the essence of missions is evangelistic, that the mission is first and foremost God's mission, and Christian mission is a call to unbelievers to leave behind their 'cherished idols and unclean things' all need to challenge the Church again and again, including in our day.
... so that I might come to
the Irish people to preach the Gospel and endure insults from unbelievers; that
I might hear scandal of my travels, and endure many persecutions to the extent
of prison; and so that I might give up my free birthright for the advantage of
others, and if I should be worthy, I am ready [to give] even my life without
hesitation; and most willingly for His name. And I choose to devote it to him
even unto death, if God grant it to me.
I am greatly God's debtor, because
he granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in
God, and soon a [sic] after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere
for them, the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of
the earth, just as he once promised through his prophets: 'To you shall the
nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have
inherited naught but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.' And
again: 'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles that you may bring
salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth.'
And I wish to wait then for
his promise which is never unfulfilled, just as it is promised in the Gospel:
'Many shall come from east and west and shall sit at table with Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob.' Just as we believe that believers will come from all the world.
So for that reason one should,
in fact, fish well and diligently, just as the Lord foretells and teaches,
saying, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,' and again through the
prophets: 'Behold, I am sending forth many fishers and hunters, says the Lord,'
et cetera. So it behoves us to spread our nets, that a vast multitude and
throng might be caught for God, and so there might be clergy everywhere who
baptized and exhorted a needy and desirous people. Just as the Lord says in the
Gospel, admonishing and instructing: 'Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always to the end of time.' And again he says: 'Go forth into the
world and preach the Gospel to all creation. He who believes and is baptized
shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned.' And again:
'This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached throughout the whole world as a
witness to all nations; and then the end of the world shall come.' And likewise
the Lord foretells through the prophet: 'And it shall come to pass in the last
days (sayeth the Lord) that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your
sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and
your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy.' And in Hosea
he says: 'Those who are not my people I will call my people, and those not
beloved I will call my beloved, and in the very place where it was said to
them, You are not my people, they will be called 'Sons of the living God'.
So, how is it that in Ireland,
where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished
idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are
called children of God; the sons of the Irish [Scotti] and the daughters of the
chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ.[1]
[1]
This text, a translation from the Latin, is taken from ‘Catholic Online’: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saintpatrick/confessio.php.
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