by Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Rural Life
Despite the triple digit heat wave we experienced a few weeks ago, slowly but surely we are inching closer to the best season of the year (No, not pumpkin spice season): the season of fall.
For many reasons, fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season of the year. Many of my greatest memories in life have occurred during this blessed time.
Not only does fall mark the beginning of a new school year, the return of “Friday Night Lights” (and football in general), fall festivals, crisper weather, leaves changing colors, etc. but most importantly, fall brings with it the beginning of the fall harvest.
The fall harvest is the graced season in which farmers can finally bring in the precious fruits of their labor: the crops that they have so thoroughly enriched, planted, cultivated, weeded, and so much more. Thus, in view of farmers laboring by the sweat of their brow, during the harvest, at long last, man shall eat bread (Gen. 3:19). As such, the fall harvest is a time of praise, thanksgiving, adoration, and celebration.
Most properly though, from the beginning, the fall harvest is essentially concerned with first fruits. Scripturally, first fruits are considered the rightful and sacred property of God, including goods such as produce, grain, wine, oil, wool, and honey (Deut 18:4; 2 Chr 31:5; Exod 23:19, 34:26). Moreover, first fruits are primarily given to God in recognition of His supreme dominion over creation.
As God’s Chosen People, Israel is lovingly named “the first fruits of [God’s] Harvest” (Jer 2:3). In his Epistles, St. Paul likewise refers to some of his early converts in Greece as “first fruits” (1 Cor 16:15; 2 Thess 2:12) and above all, St. Paul declares Christ as “the first fruits of those who have died” (1 Cor 15:20).
That being said, while the fall harvest is certainly a grace-filled and exciting time, in no way is it a season of total ease and comfort; far from it. On the contrary, harvest time is an extremely labor-intensive, emotionally draining, and burdensome challenge.
In many ways, working the fall harvest is comparable to sprinting a marathon. It is full “go,” with little to no rest until you reach the much-anticipated finish line. Certainly, a successful harvest takes more than a family, but rather, a village; it’s all hands on deck, both physically and spiritually.
In this context, I believe that the fall harvest may be understood in one sense as a secular/agricultural Holy Week. Like the crops which have been lovingly sown into the earth to take on flesh and bear fruit (Incarnation) and now are set to be wholly harvested for the sake of feeding mankind, so too are farmers, their families, and rural communities wholly giving themselves in bodily and spiritual sacrifice to provide nourishment for the multitudes in body and spirit to the point of total exhaustion.
In other words, through the farmer’s labor of love, in which his works essentially bear his God-given human dignity, image, and likeness, what’s highlighted is a beautiful relationship between the harvested crops and the farmer; each is being wholly offered to God as first fruits. As Jesus tells us: “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)
On the farm, every job, every chore, every task, and every responsibility, great and small, is largely ordered toward the “secular liturgy” of the fall harvest, which constitutes the livelihood of the farming family, as well as the livelihood of countless families.
Despite the many challenges of the fall harvest, there is a real sense of joy, authentic pride, and above all, charity, in the vocation of the farmer to spend themselves like Christ for the sake of His Beloved, the first fruits of His Creation.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, as a diocese united in Christ, may we keep all of our farmers, their families, and any/all persons and machinery involved with the fall harvest in our daily prayers for a safe and successful harvest.
Also, we equally remember those farming families who, due to natural disaster, are unable to harvest a crop this year. Know that you are not forgotten and that you especially remain in our prayers.
Remember that the Lord is never outdone in generosity. Despite the lack of a physical crop, our Heavenly Father sees your lives, your labors, your sacrifices, and most especially, your faith as an offering of first fruits, and He will reward you abundantly in His Divine Providence.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).
Prayer for an Abundant and Safe Harvest
Lord, Father of us all, watch over and protect all of the men and women who work in the fields during harvest.
Guide and direct their efforts this time of year. As they begin to reap the fruits of your bounty, keep them safe in their work.
Help drivers to be aware of equipment and trucks on the road at all times of the day.
Keep equipment working well and make your yield abundant. Help us remember that you are the God of the harvest.
May all praise and glory be yours heavenly father through Christ our Lord and with the Spirit. Amen.
by Father Kenneth Borowiak, pastor of St. Michael Parish in Lincoln
