Planting and Harvesting

Wednesday of this past week was the feast of St. Isidore the farmer.  This is the time we bless the land.  Fields, orchards, and gardens are all blessed so there may be a bounty from which to feed many.  This is a major church season.  Our Christian roots are agricultural.  Jesus talked of farmers sowing, shepherds gathering, lands yielding, trees bearing fruit—it was the visible world of his day. For most of us the world of produce is the supermarket.  But we still need the yield of mother earth to meet the hungers of our body and soul. 

The growing season for which we seek blessing is ninety days; from May 15^th to August 15^th.  The conclusion of the growing season is the harvest of late summer.  The solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into heaven concludes the growing season.  Mary is Queen of the harvest.  Resurrection to the Christian is the conclusion of life — the harvest — the blessings of those who bear much fruit.  From the planting of earth with Isidore on this past Wednesday to the harvest of souls, and the harvest of the land, on August 15^th, the liturgical year constantly echoes the parables of the seasons of our soul.

Mother earth is changing.  We do not need to watch the weather reports to know this to be true.  New Mexico is at present the most severe of the drought states.  Others are too wet to plant because of spring flooding.  No one can pray like a farmer prays.  No one hopes and waits like those who work the land.

The prophet Isaiah talks about the Spirit being like rain that comes watering the fields bringing forth life and returning from where it came.  If you prefer to hear it in rap, it would go something like this:  No rain, no grain . . .

No grain, no bread . . .  No bread, you’re dead!

Today we are reminded that we are both planters and harvesters.  We are the seeds and yield.  We are the fruit, the gifts, and the Spirit.  We are more than a ninety day investment of the earth.  We are the bounty of God for all seasons.  As the hymn says, Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the face of the earth”.

Baptism

Some question why the Catholic Church baptizes those who are not old enough to understand what’s happening.  And recently, some have asked why our parish has begun to celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism during Sunday Mass.

Just as one enters a family by birth and is really a part of that family even though for a long period of time there is no real capacity for giving love but only for receiving it, so infants are brought into the family of the Church before they are capable of understanding its significance or of expressing the love that marks this community as the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. 

We baptize our children because all human beings are offered grace and redemption through Christ.  We recognize that all mankind is flawed because of the Original Sin of our first parents, and because God wills that all should have grace which frees us from the bondage of sin.  We baptize our children because Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:15–16).

Just as one who is to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation has a sponsor who assumes the duty of witnessing the faith – so an infant’s parents assume the duty of living the faith so that the child may learn what it means as part of their daily life, and not something that is spoken of only at Church.

But why do we baptize during Mass?  We do so because Holy Mother Church teaches us that the proper time for Baptism is on Sunday when the entire community is present, so that we can all spend some time reflecting upon our own baptismal promises, whether we made them ourselves as an adult, or they were made by our parents.  Also, Baptism during Mass allows us to see the relationship between Baptism and the Eucharist more clearly. 

The ritual for Baptism reminds us that we are buried with Christ in the death of Baptism and rise also with him to new life.  Just as in the Eucharist we witness the same Paschal Mystery – Christ died and rose again to new life.

The parents and godparents commit themselves to seeing that the divine life God gives their children is kept safe from the poison of sin.  This is a role we can all help with when we live our faith as a verb.

Blessed Mother Mary

Queen of Peace, Mother of Mercy, Immaculate Conception, Star of the Sea, Queen of Heaven, there are so many titles we use when we speak of Mary.  These five titles, and hundreds of others, each describe one aspect of the Mother of God, but none of them capture the wonder of this woman. 

As May is traditionally devoted to Mary, it is fitting that our first 3-minute catechesis of the month be devoted to her. 

Catholic beliefs about the Blessed Virgin Mary include her immaculate conception, her freedom from personal sin, her perpetual virginity, the fact that she is the mother of God, her assumption into heaven, and her role as intercessor. 

Most Protestants, and some Catholics, have a problem when it comes to understanding the relationship of Mary to Jesus.  They ask, “How can this woman be the Mother of God?”  It is hard to comprehend that Jesus is the only child in the history of mankind that existed before his mother. 

Innumerable Fathers and Doctors of the Church, saints and scholars have undertaken serious studies of Mary over the centuries.  The Bishops of the Second Vatican Council thought Mary so important to the very nature of the Church they devoted an entire chapter to her in the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church.   Even the Augustinian monk and founder of the Reformation, Martin Luther, maintained a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin. 

The richness of Marian devotion may be glimpsed in Mary’s unparalleled relationship with the Holy Trinity.  She is the daughter of the Father, the mother of the Son, and the spouse of the Holy Spirit.  As the Catechism says, “By [Mary’s] complete adherence to the Father’s will, to his Son’s redemptive work, and to every prompting of the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary is the Church’s model of faith and charity.”  In and of herself, she is the true model of the Church – the model of how we should live our faith.  The lesson we learn from Mary is in her willingness to accept the will of God, no matter the consequence. 

Mary isn’t the mother of just another man, nor is Mary only Jesus’ mother; she is our mother too.  In a special way, every day is Mother’s Day when we turn to Mary and deepen our love for Christ.  Mary, who held baby Jesus in the manger and who prayed for him at the foot of the cross, shows us the way to her Son.

Did Jesus Rise From the Dead

We all wonder what will happen to us after we die.  When a loved one dies, we long to see him or her again after our turn comes.  Jesus taught that life does not end after our bodies die.  He made this startling claim: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.”  According to the eyewitnesses closest to him, Jesus then demonstrated his power over death by rising from the dead after being crucified and buried for three days.  It is this belief that has given hope to Christians for nearly 2000 years.

Some people believe that Jesus didn’t really die.  Some believe that he died and his followers stole the body and made up the stories of his resurrection.

Charles Dickens begins “The Christmas Carol” with, “Marley was deader than a doornail, of that there was no doubt.”  The same can be said of Jesus – the Romans were experts at execution and no one who was crucified, lived.  Crucifixion was such a horrendous death that there were no words to express the pain that those crucified experienced – the Romans invented a new word to describe the pain:  it was excruciating.  Jesus’ death is a certainty.

Did his followers steal his body and make up stories of his resurrection?  Chuck Colson, implicated in the Watergate scandal during President Nixon’s administration, pointed out the difficulty of several people maintaining a lie for an extended period of time.  He said . . .

[Quote]  “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me.  How?  Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, and then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it.  Each of them was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison.  They would not have endured that if it weren’t true.  Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world – and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks.  You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years?  Absolutely impossible.”  [End Quote]

If his death wasn’t faked and it wasn’t a conspiracy by his closest friends, then we are left with only one conclusion: Jesus Christ was crucified, died and was buried, and on the third day he rose from the dead, reconciling us to God and restoring us to eternal life.

St. Patrick

St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures.  But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery.  Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century.  Although his father was a Christian deacon, there is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family.  At the age of 16, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate.  They took him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity.  During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people.  Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian.  It was here, during his captivity, that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity. 

After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped.  According to his writing, a voice — which he believed to be God's — spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.  To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where he was held, to the Irish coast.  After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation—an angel in a dream told him to return to Ireland as a missionary.  Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than 15 years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish. 

Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs.  For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire.  He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called the Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish.  Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, through his ministry Christianity became the religion of the Emerald Isle. 

Each of us is invited to do the same as St. Patrick.  Choose to reject “victim-hood” and self-centeredness.  Embrace the way of the Cross by carrying on the redemptive mission of Jesus.  Develop a personal relationship with God through deep, constant and abiding prayer.  Most importantly, discern the voice of the Lord in your daily life.