ST. PATRICK AND NEPHI: A COMPARISON OF TWO GREAT MEN

I was going through the Nichols Family Home Evening box the other day looking for something I wanted to use in my Seminary class.  It was a great trip down memory lane while I perused some of the fun activities we had as we learned the gospel together.  Our family celebrated EVERY holiday, major or not so major.  I always prepared a little blurb about WHY we were celebrating the holiday, so my kids had some idea about the background and reason for the “party” we always had to commemorate that special day.  After a while, those same activities became traditions, and we did them year after year without ever getting tired of the fun they generated.

For March we always had a little quiz about St. Patrick.  He wasn’t born in Ireland, but in Britain and tended sheep in his early boyhood.  Though he was captured by pirates when he was just 16, at some point he ended up in France where he studied to be a priest.

During a visit back to Britain, St. Patrick dreamed the Irish people wanted him to be their religious leader.  He converted many Celts and Druids to Christianity.  St. Patrick also taught Irish monks to copy books in a style so valuable and beautiful they became world treasures.  And he wrote an autobiography when he was old called “The Confession”.  St. Patrick led the Catholic Church in Ireland for many years and left so important a legacy that many people still celebrate his life every year on March 17^th which is the anniversary date of his death. The shamrock became the symbol for St. Patrick’s Day, not because St. Patrick liked to go hunting for them, but because of his teachings about the Trinity.

NOW BACK TO OUR FAMILY HOME EVENING CELEBRATION 

After we reviewed the answers to the little quiz, I then taught my kids about another man who had had similar experiences….Nephi, son of Lehi in the Book of Mormon.

Nephi was born in Jerusalem and relocated with his family to the Promised Land when he was just a young man.  He was often abused by his older brothers and was even tied up on occasion when they threatened to kill him.  Nephi studied the gospel with his father Lehi, then asked the Lord for a spiritual confirmation of his own after Lehi told him about a dream he’d had concerning the Iron Rod.  Nephi’s preaching and teachings helped many of Lehi’s and Ishmael’s families believe that Christ would come.  Nephi taught them to be Christians.

With all the work Nephi had to do building a ship and leading his people, there wasn’t much time to go looking for shamrocks either.  But he did find a ball of intricate workmanship outside his tent one day.  He learned that it was called a Liahona and would direct them where to go, so long as they obeyed God’s commandments.

Nephi took the Egyptian language to the Promised Land, then modified it so it was easier to engrave on metal sheets.  Using Reformed Egyptian, he wrote a record of the Nephites’ spiritual and historical events on gold plates.  The books of 1 Nephi and 2 Nephi are basically Nephi’s own history. He died over 500 years before Christ was born.

                 

 Both St. Patrick and Nephi suffered hardships and adversity, were well-loved by their people, and left a great example of devotion to God for those who came after.  But in spite of all St. Patrick’s goodness, Nephi had one role St. Patrick didn’t have.  It was that of a prophet, someone to whom God had given His priesthood so all of Heavenly Father’s children during Nephi’s time could be instructed and blessed. 

A prophet receives revelation, teaches us about God’s character, exposes the evils of sin, warns against wrongdoing, preaches of righteousness, builds and restores faith, and is a witness of Jesus Christ and testifies of Him through the Holy Ghost.

At that point we were at the serious part of the party as we discussed the duties of a prophet as outlined in scripture.  After the conclusion of the lesson, we played “Irish” games and ate Irish treats. What a celebration!

 

We also have a prophet today.  President Russel M. Nelson leads the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at this time and does those very same things I taught my kids about Nephi being a prophet.    

Starting three years ago, President Nelson has given us much instruction, including specific counsel that has allowed us to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic with much better skills to keep our families strong in spite of restrictions.  He introduced the “Come Follow Me program” which put our home as the center of our religious life, with what happens at our church buildings a support of that concept. Not the other way around.  That was a year before the pandemic.  So, when government restrictions that wouldn’t allow us to gather as a congregation were put into place across the country, we as church families had basically been having Church at home.  

President Nelson has also invited us  to find the ways we can hear the voice of the Lord in our own lives...HEAR HIM. That voice gives us direction and assurance.  And our prophet has encouraged us to let God prevail in all we do. 

I am grateful that we have a leader who gives us instruction through revelation and invites us to always emulate the Savior which is ultimately the best medicine the world could have at this time.  Love for all instead of hate.

Perhaps you have also recognized blessings in your life because we have a prophet.  Jot them down and see what warm tones and tiny miracles come to you on a daily basis. These are gold nuggets that are more priceless than earthly wealth or any pot of gold you might find at the end of the rainbow.