Question: With all that St. Patrick did in converting Ireland, why is St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) an optional memorial and not an obligatory memorial or feast or maybe even a solemnity?
— Deacon Ben Gross, Peachtree City, Georgia
Answer: Generally, the patron saints of nations are feast days in the land of which they are the patron. However, outside that country, the celebration is not always obligatory. For example, St. George, patron saint of England, and St. Stanislaus, patron saint of Poland, are optional memorials. St. Joan of Arc, patron saint of France, isn’t even on our liturgical calendar here in the United States. In their countries, these feasts are all celebrated either as a feast or solemnity; however, outside those places, they are either an obligatory or an optional memorial.
Saints that are more widely known throughout the world will tend to have an obligatory memorial, but other facts also ensue. For example, St. Patrick’s feast day always occurs during Lent, and there are many places where it makes more sense to stay within a Lenten framework, since seasons such as Lent, Advent and Easter often have precedence or at least favor insofar as deciding what to emphasize. In regions such as Ireland and the northeast United States, where those of Irish ancestry are large in number, the feast of St. Patrick is often celebrated with zeal, but in other areas, less so. Many are also surprised to learn that celebrations here in the United States are often more “rowdy” than in Ireland, where the feast day has more of a religious flavor, emphasizing Mass and the holy day more than parades or green beer, etc. The celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, while not an obligatory feast here in the United States, seems, however, to have an American flavor somewhat distinct and even more jovial than on the Emerald Isle.
Contradictory Scripture?
Question: In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (11:23). Then, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said: “For whoever is not against us is for us” (9:40). This seems to sound contradictory. I’m sure there is a good explanation. Can you please help me understand better?
— Suzann Corral, Tampa, Florida
Answer: On the face of it, there is no contradiction since both expressions are saying the same thing, to wit: “If you’re with me, that’s good, if you’re against me, nothing good will come of that.” While there are slight differences in the wording, that’s the basic and unified message.
In addition, and contextually, these expressions are addressing different situations, hence the different wording. In the Mark 9 passage, John the Apostle had said, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.” Jesus replies by saying, “Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me” (Mk 9:38-39). So here, Jesus is urging prudence in too quickly hindering a person who is casting out our common enemy, the devil. Even if this man is not fully initiated, he is doing our work and not speaking ill of us. Soon enough he may join us fully if we can encourage him to follow even more closely rather than hinder him.
In Luke 11, Jesus speaks more generally to a different scenario: those who are not with him at all (i.e. they are against him). Such as these can expect no lasting victories and ultimate defeat. Opposing God can bring momentary applause from the world, the flesh and the devil, but the world is passing, the flesh dies, and the devil is defeated. Nothing that the wicked do will prosper and only those who work for God will last.
Your question is important since it illustrates the need for context. There is an old saying, “A text taken out of context becomes a pretext.” Context supplies the specific situation that a speaker addresses and often presupposes facts or assumptions already in evidence to the audience but which might not be clear to another audience simply hearing an isolated quote. Hence, as you have done, we do well to ask and look more deeply into the circumstances from which a quotation comes. In this way, apparent contradictions or other textual problems are often solved.
Msgr. Charles Pope is the pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian in Washington, D.C., and writes for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. at blog.adw.org. Send questions to msgrpope@osv.com.
