Let anyone laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent, nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord many years before they happened, who knew everything, even before the beginning of time.
Saint PatrickRead
He [God] watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses the idea of a protective and nurturing divine presence in one's life, even before one is aware of it.
In this quote, Saint Patrick reflects on the notion that God's guidance and protection were present in his life even during his most formative and unaware years. The imagery of a fatherly figure suggests a deep, unconditional love and care that transcends understanding, highlighting the belief that divine support is continuously offered, shaping one's journey toward moral discernment and personal growth.
Themes
GodProtectionFatherLoveGuidance
In practice
Example use cases
In a sermon about faith and divine guidance.
More from Saint Patrick
All quotes →I see that already in this present world I am exalted above measure by the Lord. And I was not worthy nor such a one as that he should grant this to me, since I know most surely that poverty and affliction become me better than delights and riches.
Saint PatrickRead
The Lord is greater than all: I have said enough.
Saint PatrickRead
He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father.
Saint PatrickRead
I partly know why I have not led a perfect life like other believers. But I avow to my Lord, and I do not lie, that from the time when I first knew him, the love of God and the fear of him has grown in me from my youth so that I have, by the power of God, always till now kept the faith.
Saint PatrickRead
I only seek in my old age to perfect that which I had not before thoroughly learned in my youth, because my sins were a hindrance to me.
Saint PatrickRead
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