St. Patrick's Prayer

I was going to post this yesterday but The Band got in the way and Adrienne beat me to it. Still, here's some power from St. Patrick's Breastplate:

I summon today

All these powers between me and those evils,

Against every cruel and merciless power

that may oppose my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul;

Christ to shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

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 every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

of the Creator of creation.

What a mighty prayer and you can read the whole thing at Adrienne's Corner.

God bless and be safe,

LSP

Grey's Scouts Ride On

We think, understandably, that horse cavalry's a thing of the past but it wasn't in Rhodesia in its courageous if doomed Bush War in the 1970s.

Facing a shortage of vehicles, petrol and the logistical reality of having to operate in rugged terrain, Rhodesian security forces raised an experimental unit of horse infantry, MIU (Mounted Infantry Unit) to take the war to the enemy.

The MIU proved successful despite initial criticism from units such as the Rhodesian Light Infantry and SAS. By 1975 the MIU had produced tangible results, the experiment worked:

The intimidating psychological effect on terrorist and tribesman alike of the man on the horse quickly gained the MIU a hard reputation and led to a widespread respect for the 'Mahout'. The sight of a horseman, with rifle levelled, crashing through the mealies towards a terrorist was more than enough to terrify the most hard-core commissar (leaders of terrorist gangs styled themselves 'political commissars').

The MIU became the Grey's Scouts, named after Captain Grey who raised cavalry against the wizard rebellion in Matabeleland in 1896, and fought with distinction.

Horse soldiering's made a comeback since the 1970s, not least in central North Texas where membership in irregular mounted units under the honorary colonelcy of First Lady Melania is both prized and sought after.

Thanks, Mattexian, for the reminder.

Ride On,

LSP

Grace

Years ago, back in the halcyon days when the world was young and UKLF still had county regiments, I was praying, intensely, before the Sacrament. It was before an ecumenical service with local Baptists in Reading, England. 

My Father, rest in peace, was praying beside me. He was part of the service, maybe "guest preacher," and he looked at me, locked in white knuckle prayer effort and said, "Don't you believe in grace?"

Sheepishly, I replied that I did and relaxed.

We filled that church on the night with hundreds of people, it was packed. The Baptists pulled out of the project later because there was a statue of Virgin Mary in the church. Such idolatry!

Make of this what you will.

Gratia plena,

LSP