St. Patrick: From Slave to Preacher When Patrick was a teenager, he was kidnapped during a raid on Britain and taken to Ireland to serve as a slave. After six years in captivity, he escaped, made his way back home, and eventually was ordained into the priesthood. Then, in his ironic way, God sent Patrick back into the land of his former captivity to proclaim the freedom of the Gospel. The boy who had been a slave was used by Christ to bring his word of salvation and life to a people who had been living in the darkness of pagan unbelief. In Patrick we see the Lord of life at work, as we see him at work in our own lives. The God who can take a slave who seemed destined for nothing but death, and use his life to bring wisdom, light, and salvation to the lives of so many others—this same God can and does work in our own lives. We may seem destitute of hope, but the hope of Christ is stronger than our weakness. As he was for Patrick, so he will be for us: our companion in suffering, our life in death, our resurrection in the grave, and the Lord who uses us in his own way to bring blessings into the lives of others.