by Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Rural Life
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn. 12:24)
As we find ourselves in August, with summer wrapping up and shifting into fall and harvest right around the corner, these words from the Beloved Disciple are worth pondering.
One aspect of growing crops that never ceases to amaze me is crop resiliency. Living in the Midwest, farmers constantly face many challenges that Mother Nature presents: extreme temperatures, frost, drought, wind, flood rains, hail, tornadoes, etc. Moreover, farmers have to deal with many weeds and insects that also can cause crop damage/loss. In spite of these challenges, thanks to science and technological advancements, crop resiliency has greatly improved, giving farmers a better chance of reaping a bountiful harvest.
So in the spiritual life, we have been created like Christ, in body and soul, to be resilient in faith, a grain of wheat which dies to self for the sake of producing much fruit, centered on the fruit of Eternal Life in the Resurrection wrought by Christ in the Eucharist and Paschal Mystery.
In a beautiful way, the Church celebrated this glorious truth on the Solemnity of Mary’s Assumption body and soul into Heaven. Viewing this precious grain of wheat, in her being preserved from the stain of all sin via her Immaculate Conception, “the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians” (CCC #966).
Every Solemnity when we pray the Nicene Creed as members of Christ’s Body, the Church, along with Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, together we profess belief in the resurrection of the dead. Though we are not perfect as Mary, her Assumption into Heaven is our glorious model to follow along with Christ’s Glorious Ascension, to strive to be transformed by the Holy Spirit in faith and sacrifice, in love and sanctity. If Jesus assumed His most precious and holy Mother into Heaven, then by faith we should earnestly believe that as His disciples we too will be resurrected in glorified bodies one day.
Thus, whether it is physically working a fall harvest or laboring within our daily God-given vocations, cultivating a regular prayer life rooted in Christ, (especially Mass, the Eucharist, Adoration), or dying to self regularly in sacrifice to become the holy men and women saints God has called us to be from the beginning, in all of these ways and more we represent the grain lovingly sown by the Eternal Sower. By faith in God’s Providential care for us, we learn to live not simply for ourselves, but for God and our brothers and sisters in Christ via grace, to nourish as grains of wheat all within the One Body of Christ.
In striving daily to be grains of wheat which fall to the ground and die, specifically, God is calling us to trade in safety for love.
A grain of wheat which remains just a grain of wheat lives a life of safety. There may be aspects of goodness here or there, but in reality, contentment is found in hedging one’s bets and remaining more or less neutral in life, making little to zero physical/spiritual progress. There is little resiliency. Such lifestyle sorely misses out on the true meaning of the Christian life: sacrificial love, death to self, willing the good of another. Resiliency.
The greatest moments in life—as well as the most ordinary moments exercised with great love—take place because there was something on the line and something very costly: one’s livelihood. As the saying goes, “you reap what you sow.” If we simply remain content, living a life of safety, then we will not reap the full measure of abundant graces that God so desires to produce in us. Moreover, a life of safety greatly impedes our progress in the order of grace, sacrifice, and charity.
But when we as Christians intentionally present our lives to Christ as a daily sacrificial offering and those physical/spiritual areas where we are regularly tempted to remain safe, we experience pain and suffering NOT in isolation, but in communal intimacy with Jesus, where the soil bed of redemptive suffering and healing in His Most Sacred Heart produces a bountiful harvest of faith, hope, and charity, and the seven lively virtues of the Holy Spirit.
Two weeks ago, I had the honor of doing a spiritual pilgrimage “desert day” to Oklahoma City, to visit the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother, the first U.S. born priest/martyr to be recognized by the Church. Growing up on a farm in Okarche, Okla., Blessed Stanley knew well a life of resiliency. Serving as a mission priest in Santiago Atilan, Guatemala, he taught his people how to cultivate crops and too cultivated a life of faith for his people in many ways. After the government put him on its national hit list, in resilient faith he came to the truth: “The Shepherd cannot run at the first sign of danger.” Returning to Santiago Atilan on Palm Sunday a few months later, Blessed Stanley was martyred.
As a grain of wheat, Blessed Stanley didn’t remain idle; he traded safety for love and is now beloved in Heaven. If a small-town farm kid from the Midwest can do this, brothers and sisters, with ongoing faith, hope, and charity, so can we.
Like our Blessed Mother and Blessed Stanley, as living grains of wheat, let us pray for the grace of physical and spiritual resilience and devotion to the Holy Spirit. Doing so, may we become grains of wheat willed to fall to the ground to produce much fruit. Finally, may we continually be strengthened to trade in the safety of the world for the glorious love of the Kingdom of God.
