By Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Rural Life
Following the heavy rainfall across much of the Diocese of Lincoln, it has been a blessing to be able to drive around and see the fall harvest in full swing these past couple of weeks.
While I regularly pray for safe, seasonal, and sufficient rain on a regular basis, I assure you I have been celebrating the optional Votive Mass for Favorable Weather the past couple months. Thankfully, our Lord has blessed us with some beautiful weather. May we continue to pray for such favorable weather.
Driving around Nebraska during the fall is truly poetic. The countless images of autumn, fit corn and soybean fields, machinery, hard-working farm families, small town Nebraska communities, are just a few of the things which make the Cornhusker State a blessing living in the Good Life.
In a tangible way, all of these seasonal images beautifully offer our physical and spiritual senses a sort of harvest symphony, all of the agricultural and rural instruments producing a sweet and harmonious work of creation; a fruitful work which draws our attention back to the First and Second Creation accounts in Genesis.
The fall harvest powerfully reveals a fundamental philosophical truth: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” In other words, it is within the many parts of the hustle and bustle of the fall harvest great and small alike that produce something greater, more significant than their individual contributions.
Whether it is running the combine, running a grain cart, hauling a semi-load full of grain, setting an augur, switching grain heads, making repairs, giving rides, or cooking a meal, each of these parts produce a beautiful whole, more than what each person could achieve on their own.
Individual tasks may seem trivial or small, but without that task, the entire whole would not be accomplished. This philosophical truth helps us better understand the dignity of our human labors as well as the essential dignity of the human person.
In the words of St. John Paul II: “such a connection between work and religion reflects the mysterious but real alliance which intervenes between human action and the providential action of God.”
Reflecting on providential action, I can’t help but think of St. Francis of Assisi. Last January, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed a Franciscan Jubilee Year throughout the Church to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi. From Jan. 10, 2026, to Jan. 10, 2027, this Jubilee Year of Saint Francis “invites believers and communities to rediscover the way of life of the Saint of Assisi: a life that is simple and essential, open to peace, fraternity, and respect for creation.”
Thus, this Jubilee Year, which marks eight centuries of Franciscan memory, is above all an invitation to action.
The example of St. Francis, a man of poverty, humility, and reconciliation, urges us to live lives of concrete charity, to build more just relationships, and to foster peace, caring for people, creation, and the environment as inseparable gifts.
However, this invitation to action isn’t meant to be performed only during harvest. As disciples, we are called to providential action in every aspect of our lives. In a word, such providential action should wholly consume us as Christ was consumed in His Passion-based love for us.
As I was finishing my final Sunday Mass two weeks ago, I was struck by the Prayer after Communion for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, which reads: “Grant us, almighty God, that we may be refreshed and nourished by the Sacrament which we have received, so as to be transformed into what we consume…”
This prayer helps us to recall the selfless and sacrificial nature of our lives as followers of Christ. It is not we who consume Christ in the Eucharist, but rather Christ who consumes and desires to wholly absorb us into His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
As farmers across the Midwest continue to sacrificially labor for our sake and to harvest the precious fruits of creation, may their providential actions and ours, great and small, be guided by the intercession of St. Francis and wholly united to the Eternal providential action of Christ’s Paschal Mystery.
Absorbeat Prayer
Attributed to St. Francis
May the power of your love, Jesus Christ,
fiery and sweet as honey,
so absorb our hearts
as to withdraw them from all that is under heaven.
Grant that we may be ready
to die for the love of your love, as you died
for love of our love.
Amen.
