Limited education would prove to be an obstacle for Patrick, and considering that “every word [he] spoke had to be translated into a foreign tongue,”41 communicating with the pagans in Ireland became a daunting task.
A complete lack of adequate translators hindered Saint Patrick’s attempts to explain the Gospel message and herald his message of the dogma of Jesus Christ. In fact, later Christian missionaries aware of the challenges faced by Patrick would ensure that a sufficient knowledge of foreign languages was known before embarking on missions abroad. Jesuit missionaries in later years would pay particular attention to the details of languages while traveling in Asia and North America.
(source wikipedia)
Dear God
Help me to learn the foreign language of those around me
the men
the teenagers
the business people
the republicans
the economists…
the conservatives
the folks who believe that military invasion/occupation is the right path
the union folks who prefer layoffs to wage freezes
the basketball junkies
not just so I can tell them my own personal dogma but so that I might understand what they are trying to tell me as well.
amen