Monthly Archives: April 2014

I bind unto myself today

Trinity“I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever, by pow’r of faith, Christ’s incarnation, his baptism in the Jordan River, his cross of death for my salvation, his bursting form the spiced tomb, his riding up the heav’nly way, his coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven, the glorious sun’s life giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even, the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks, the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.

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 the name, the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three, of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word.  Praise to the Lord of my salvation; salvation is of Christ the Lord!”

– St. Patrick, paraphrase by Cecil F. Alexander

 

April 1-4

Departing Boston on the evening of April 1, we cross the Atlantic by night.  Flying via Amsterdam to Glasgow, we catch a train to Edinburgh, our “home base” in the UK.  There we take time to adjust to a new country and time zone, and perhaps have our first taste of “haggis.”  (Haggis, not for the faint of heart, is a Scottish dish made of the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep or lamb, combined with oats, suet and other herbs and spices, and then cooked in a casing traditionally made of the animal’s stomach. Thus, haggis is essentially a form of sausage.)