by Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Rural Life
One of my favorite Masses to celebrate every year is a votive Mass for farmers commemorating the beginning of the fall harvest. This celebration is even better when provided the opportunity to celebrate with all the school kids and teachers.
This votive Mass provides a graced opportunity for our diocesan schools to learn more about our agricultural roots, and to be reminded to pray for all the farmers and laborers who work tirelessly to harvest crops in order to feed us and the world. Personally, it is always powerful for me to ask our school children to pray for our farmers, as their humble prayers are most of all desired by our Lord and His Tender Heart. (Mt. 19:14)
For this particular votive Mass, the priest wears white/gold vestments. These vestments call to mind the countless golden acres of corn and soybeans ready to be harvested. So too in the liturgy, white and gold remind us of the glorious saints and their shining models of holiness who reign in Heaven by way of the glorious light of Christ’s Resurrection.
Moreover, within the three particular votive Masses: “At Seedtime,” “Before Harvest” (not an officially named votive Mass, but able to be celebrated via the votive Mass of the Sanctification of Human Labor), and “After Harvest,” we see our lives closely resemble the life of a corn crop. As the seed progresses to germinate and continually grow to full maturity in all of its various stages for the sake of being harvested, so in the Christian life, the seed of the kerygma germinates through the waters of Baptism and grows via a regular sacramental life, progressing in life’s various stages to the point of producing a mature crop, ready to be harvested for the sake of eternal life via the Resurrection.
Viewed in a liturgical context, we go from white (Baptism), green (Ordinary Time) and white/gold (Resurrection/eternal life). Thus, cultivating crops in their various stages is strikingly similar to man cultivating virtue throughout the stages of life for the sake of a bountiful crop, a fruitful life, and a well-ordered body and soul.
For these reasons and more, every fall is an exciting time full of beautiful imagery within the physical and spiritual/liturgical world and full of labor-intensive yet fruitful labor.
In many ways, the vocation of the farmer during harvest is strikingly similar to that of Jesus. As the Christ and Son of Man (Mk. 8:29-31), Jesus, the living Bread from Heaven came into this world eating and drinking… a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Lk. 7:34).
Regardless of persons, whether they are the greatest of saints or the worst of sinners, farmers, like Jesus, laboriously provide food for all persons, highlighting the dignity of the human person and bestowing upon them the gift of physical life. However, like Jesus, by our faith and prayers, all of us should equally strive to provide spiritual nourishment for all persons as well, seeking to evangelize all persons to “the Christ” for the sake of the forgiveness of sins and encountering the eternal God.
Moreover, in taking human flesh, Jesus labored lovingly to the point of utter exhaustion, even death itself. Likewise, during the fall harvest, farmers labor lovingly to the point of exhaustion for the sake of many.
As we heard in the first reading at Mass two weeks ago, St. Paul, in speaking about what properly characterizes love states: “Love does not seek its own interests” (1 Cor. 13). In feeding the nation and the world, farmers are powerfully united to Christ in loving all persons by feeding them with the fruit of the earth and work of human hands, a noble work of corporal mercy and active charity.
As I was leaving my office a couple weeks ago, a good friend of mine texted: “The moon! Did you see it?” (to which I responded I had not.) I tried to get a good look at the moon, but my view from the rectory was obscured. So I went outside and got a better view, remembering that evening officially marked the harvest moon.
Not associated with a specific month, the harvest moon denotes the first full moon following the autumnal equinox. Appearing full for three days, the harvest moon is aptly named, due to the fact that the full moon rises almost at the same time as the sun sets. As such, the sun and the moon marvelously work together these three days, providing extended light from dusk into the later evening hours, allowing farmers extra time and light to more safely bring in the fruits of the harvest.
Our Catholic faith wisely teaches that every person can come to know the existence of God from the natural created universe alone. In the golden fields, the combines, the tractor-pulled grain carts, the sun, moon, and the stars, we are able to experience order, truth, beauty, and goodness. We are able to see the hand of God at work with our farmers and more, that the created universe always directs us to our loving Creator.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, as our farmers labor lovingly this fall for our sake, may we continue to keep them, their families, and our world in prayer. May the wondrous light of the sun and harvest moon always protect and guide our farmers and direct our sights perpetually to the light of Christ and the light of his mother Mary, totally reflected from the sun, the Son of God, leading us as fruitful crops to the glorious harvest of Resurrection, to the glorious light of Heaven with all the saints.
