This prayer is from a much longer one entitiled St Patrick’s Breastplate. St Patrick was born about AD 414 in the Roman province of Britannia. When he was 16 he was captured by a raiding party from Ireland and sold as a slave to the king of Armagh. In an instant, the privileges of home, securities of position, plans for the future were gone. It would have been easy to despair, to curse God and ask to die: but this is the time when Patrick’s faith, and his personal relationship with God, were greatly strengthened.
For all of us who are new to the College and feel similarly lost like St Patrick, his prayer can be a source of great comfort and strength as it speaks of Christ’s sustaining presence in our lives.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye of everyone that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
