Pete Greig is currently touring holy sites of pilgrimage recording Lectio 365, following in the footsteps of saints responsible for carving out the physical and spiritual territory that produced some of our great cathedrals, convents and monasteries.

Imagine what it would have been like to kneel before the apostolic figure of Patrick, saint of Ireland, and receive a commission as an abbot to go an establish an order, mission or monastery.

In Downpatrick we got to muse on that in person.

I’ve always held with the spiritual adage: ‘What you submit to you rise to.’ That’s one of the reasons it’s been a joy to come under the International Chair of SOMA, Archbishop Justin Badi Arama. But here at Down Cathedral we got to connect with a saint of old. If even a fraction of the stories of Patrick are true, imagine what it would have been like to submit to him as he submitted to Christ?

In Down and Dromore we found another pillar of faith in Bishop David McClay.

On the way back from a church visit with Bishop David and Tim Bateman he took us to the praying cross of St Patrick, outside Down Cathedral near the site of his probable resting place, and a ‘thin place’ for those wanting to touch eternity. A place where Patrick commissioned others to go.

We pulled away to leave and I joked that we’d left before I could ‘get my calling’ – just some banter at the end of a day as the sun went down.

But David took it as an opportunity and a challenge. He turned around the car and drove us back to the praying cross. It’s a cross that has a handprint in it where people have kneeled, placed their hand on the base, and committed their lives to God’s service.

And so I kneeled.

And kneeled.

And met with the Lord.

And I don’t want to lose that moment. So I’m hesitantly recording it here.

I don’t want to stop kneeling as I come home.

So I submit to you O Lord. Do what you will in SOMA. Do as you will in church, in our family, and without hesitation or regret please, please do whatever you will in me.

Of your mercy build living stones into something that lives for the praise of your glory and for your name.

O kneel me down again, here at your feet.

‘Blessed be the Lord my rock who trains my hands for war’ – Psalm 144