BOSTON -- For Archbishop Richard G. Henning, the apocryphal story that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland would be the least impressive of the saint's accomplishments.

"I think the most powerful miracle is the way in which this young man comes to see the world around him, other people, and himself so differently," he said.

Archbishop Henning celebrated the annual Mass in honor of St. Patrick, patron saint of the Archdiocese of Boston, at the 8 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on March 15. The Mass was attended by local dignitaries, including Mayor Michelle Wu and her family; former Boston Mayor and U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Ray Flynn and his wife Kathy; and Boston Fire Chief Paul Burke. The Mass was dedicated to all Boston firefighters, particularly Tim Connolly, who was hospitalized for cardiac arrest while fighting a fire in Hyde Park on the night of March 14, and Mark Garcia, a member of the Massachusetts Army National Guard who was injured in the drone strike on Kuwait that killed six U.S. service members on March 1.

In remarks after Mass, Archbishop Henning said that, since his father was a fireman, he knows the risks that firefighters experience on a regular basis.

"As we honor the legacy and the truth of St. Patrick, we celebrate the Irish immigrant presence here in the city of Boston over centuries now, and its many contributions to the cultural life of the city," the archbishop said.

In his homily, Archbishop Henning recounted St. Patrick's life story. Despite his association with Ireland, he was born in Britain, then part of the Roman Empire, and brought to Ireland in slavery.

"He was sent out into the hills alone to tend the sheep, and there, alone on the hillsides, he remembered the faith he had been taught as a child in his Christian family," the archbishop said. "And he began to pray, began to pour his heart out to God, and he received wisdom and consolation."

The true miracle, Archbishop Henning said, came when St. Patrick was liberated and returned to his family in Britain. He should have hated Ireland and its people for what they did to him, but he did not, due to his relationship with Christ.

"He gained the grace of seeing the Irish for who they truly were in their hearts," the archbishop said. "Not as enemy, not as oppressor, but as a people in need of redemption, a people lost in violence and greed that needed the light of the Gospel. And so Patrick, surprisingly, goes back."

"With a heart full of love," St. Patrick served the people who had once enslaved them. He brought Christianity to them because he saw them differently than most people would have, and, Archbishop Henning said, "seeing is believing." Just like how the faithful see bread and wine be transformed at every Mass, people can also be transformed.

"This is the place where Jesus opens our eyes and then sends us forth into the world to love even our enemy, even the one who looks or sounds different," he said. "To be that human person whose insight grows even wider, even deeper, to perceive the presence of the God who is love and be transformed in our relationship with God and with one another, seeing, believing."