by Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Rural Life
Greetings from Adams County!
Following the latest round of priest assignments this past June, I am excited to officially write to you for the first time as a rural pastor in Roseland (Sacred Heart) and Juniata (Assumption).
It is wonderful to once again be surrounded by cornfields and the beauty of God’s creation here in the Heartland. Regarding my devotion to the Most Holy Family in the hearts of Jesus (Sacred Heart), Mary (Assumption), and Joseph (the Worker), this setting is a home away from home. That being said, the last four years in Lincoln have been a blessing. Regardless of where the Lord sends me to work in the vineyard as his lowly servant, know that you all remain in my prayers (Jn 15:1; 5)
As I write this column on the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, it was announced by Pope Leo XIV that St. John Henry Newman will be elevated as the newest Doctor of the Church. Although Newman does not have an agricultural background, two of his quotes stand out to me:
“Growth is the only evidence of life.”
“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
Regardless if we are rural or urban, these words ring true because they highlight the goodness of life, creation, and our being authentically human. The amount of times farmers experience change and have to adapt is constant. Often, in those changes, the knowledge gained is key.
Personally, while physically growing up on the farm within the intimate beauty of the rural landscape, spiritually, the Newman Center—named for St. John Henry Newman—was the place where I grew and encountered the intimate beauty of Christ in Word, sacrament, and liturgy. Rooted in my faith on the farm, the Newman Center was where many essential changes took place and in God’s Providence he called me to the greatest intimacy of prayer via the Mass and Adoration. Here, I personally experienced the wisdom of Newman’s phrase: Cor ad cor loquitur: “Heart speaks to heart.”
As a priest, a disciple/apostle sent out to preach the power of the Good News, and a human, like Newman, this is what I desire every person, rural and urban alike to experience on a deeper and more personal level. Namely, in cor ad cor loquitur, to experience the graces of physical and spiritual growth via the intimacy of God’s Love for us through Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn. 14:6).
Within God’s creation and at the heart of Catholic Rural Life, we grow on so many levels. From crops, to gardens, to livestock, to pasturelands, to crop/soil enrichment and conservation, to farmers constantly pursuing knowledge in new ag
practices/marketing strategies, etc., there is no shortage of ways in which God calls us to his Bountiful Goodness. Even in the times when there is no growth and/or loss (Song of Songs 2:15), we are called to surrender everything to God and his Will.
Despite the many difficulties and challenges within the vocation of farming, like Christ and Newman, farmers are called to be resolutely determined in cultivating the grace of growth and living well.
This mindset also applies to our lives as disciples. In order to grow in body and spirit, we must not only cultivate the earth in goodness, truth, and beauty, but too we are called to do so in our own physical and spiritual lives and within our families and school/parish communities. More, we are called to cultivate the soil of our hearts and allow Christ the Sower to lovingly tend those areas most in need of care so that our hearts are fertile to receive the precious seed of the Gospel. (Mt. 13)
If a farmer were to be stubborn in all his ways and never adapt any of his agricultural practices, he would fall behind the times and be unable to continue farming as a career and vocation. The same is true for our spiritual lives. In humility, we must be willing to try new things for the sake of growth, which leads to transformation and authentic freedom.
Every day, the Lord calls us to perfection (Mt. 5:48), to become saints by continuing to gradually change our bad habits into virtuous ones. If we are not growing and learning, then we remain stagnant, which results in less fruit in view of the harvest, and too, a greater risk of being overcome by the weeds of the Enemy and/or rot in destruction.
While there is great sacrifice in change, in view of the greater good, may we place confidence in our bountiful Creator and Father, uniting ourselves in prayer more firmly to Christ and His Paschal Mystery, which leads to eternal life. In our humble willingness to grow and change for the sake of Christ, may we fruitfully experience Cor ad cor loquitur now and forever.
“God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission… Therefore, I will trust Him.” - St. John Henry Newman
