Paddy O’Sullivan: Bride of Christ?
I fell in love with a doctor once and assumed that she would one day be the Bride of Christ. There were a lot of coincidence connecting her to me and my dreams.
Paddy’s full Christian name, Patricia, was significant as she was being chosen because she was representative of Ireland, as the twelve apostles were representative of the twelve tribes of Israel. I was after all the Irish Christ, and I was choosing an Irish bride. This was a significant coincidence for me.
Patricia was symbolic of Ireland as it was the female version of Patrick, the patron saint. The female gender of the name and of Paddy was important, because Ireland was symbolised in history as Mother Ireland.
It was the perfect name for the bride of the Irish Christ. It was a beautiful name, and Paddy was a beautiful woman. Ireland was a beautiful country and I was to marry Mother Ireland. It had to be destiny.
Another coincidence that occurred to me was that both my surname and Paddy’s originated in the county of Kerry, in the southwest corner of Ireland. I had known this for some time, but I had not drawn any conclusion. It was also quite a coincidence.
It occurred to me too that the county of Kerry was also coincidentally referred to as the Kingdom county. It was often referred to simply as the Kingdom. Kerry was the Kingdom. This was interesting. Both Paddy and I were the bearers of surnames that were from the Kingdom.
It was a fitting place for the Christ and his bride to come from. But since we had come from outside the Kingdom, it was appropriate that we had names that had their origins in the Kingdom.
Kerry was therefore the Kingdom of God, and the Christ and his bride were to be symbolically from this Kingdom. Moreover, they were to be immersed in the beautiful mythology of Ireland, particularly of the west of Ireland.
John and Patricia were our Christian names. They were coincidental to the names of the former leader of the SDLP and Nobel Peace Prize winner, John Hume, and his wife, Patricia. They were also the Christian names of my former boss in Belfast and his wife. These coincidences were good omens for the marriage of all time, between the Christ and his bride.
It was also important that Paddy was a doctor as the reference in the Book of Revelation to the Bride of Christ says: “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” (Rev19:8).