St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ecological
Disasters!
According to legend, St. Patrick drove all the
snakes out of Ireland and into the sea. According to the story, he chased the
snakes away after they attacked him while he was fasting on a hill.
Of course, in our modern age we recognize this for
what it was: a massive ecological disaster. Not only polluting the sea with
snakes, but also removing a beneficial predator from the ecosystem. This
supposedly happened in the 5th century. Who knows, the absence of snakes, if
they existed at all, might even have contributed to the Great Potato Famine of
the 19th century.
Today we understand that ecology is a balance that
humanity is usually better off living with rather than drastically altering.
All of God's creatures have a role to play.
Perhaps Patrick never heard the story Ramakrishna
told in the 19th century about the snake and the holy man.
A holy man passed through a village where a
poisonous snake lived. The villagers were terrified of it because it would bite
anyone who came near. The holy man called the snake and instructed it in
spiritual discipline, telling it that harming others was wrong and that it
should practice non-violence. The snake accepted the teaching and promised not
to bite anyone again.
After some time the holy man returned and found
the snake injured and nearly starved. The villagers, realizing that the snake
no longer attacked them, had begun throwing stones at it and beating it. The
holy man asked the snake what had happened. The snake replied that it had
followed the instruction not to harm anyone, so it had allowed the villagers to
treat it that way.
The holy man then said that he had told the snake
not to bite, but he had never told it not to hiss.
– The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Well, I hope everyone has a happy St. Pattie’s
Day!
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