by Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Rural Life
I don’t know about you, but the fact that we are already more than a week into November seems absurd. Yet, here we are. As the saying goes: “Time marches on.”
For our farmers and farm families across the diocese: whether the fall harvest continues to progress along or you have harvested the sought-after and wholly satisfying “final pass” (the final row of crop combined for the season), our hearts are full of thanksgiving and gratitude for you.
By your “labor of love,” you continue to nourish us in body and spirit so that we may continue to be nourished in body and spirit by Christ in the Bountiful Harvest of His Paschal Mystery in the Most Holy Eucharist. Know that our prayers remain with you.
November, as all of you know, is a special month. As many families continue to prepare for Thanksgiving and reflect on all of the many blessings they are thankful for, so too do we remember and give thanks for our Universal Church Family.
On Nov. 1, we gloriously celebrated the lives of All Saints (canonized and not) and on Nov. 2, we especially remembered all of our loved ones who have courageously gone before us. Both of these solemn days remind us of our favorite saints as well as our beloved family and friends who embody for us signs of encouragement and edification as we continue on our journey of faith.
For some families, this may be a more/less “normal” November. For others, they may have welcomed new additions to the family. And too, there are those families who will be experiencing November for the first time without certain loved one(s) or are in very different or difficult circumstances.
Regardless of which category you fall into, brothers and sisters, as a diocesan and as a Universal Church family, know that all of you are remembered. More, know that all of you are loved by those of us on earth, as well as in Heaven within the Mystical Body of Christ.
During November, I am reminded of the words of St. Paul and the opening of his First Letter to the Thessalonians and the words of physical/spiritual comfort they so wonderfully provide:
We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers loved by God, how you were chosen. (1 Thess. 1:2-4)
Truly, as One Body in Christ, both the living and the deceased, we remember by faith that God, He who is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob is “not God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.” (Lk. 20:38). By our Baptism into Christ, all of us have been Chosen.
Therefore, during this month of November, in loving faith we are encouraged to place greater hope in our Resurrected Lord, He who is eternally present before us in the Most Holy Eucharist through the humble offerings of grain and grapes; bread and wine, as well as He who has descended into the depths of Hell and Purgatory as Vindicator to redeem all souls who remain ever faithful to Him.
For those families who have lost loved ones, one way to particularly remember them each November is to have a Mass offered for the repose of their souls or to, as a family, visit the cemetery to pray for the repose of their souls.
Not only are all these acts beautiful opportunities to remember the goodness of their lives and the gift of life in general, but further it is another way to express our thanksgiving for all of the many blessings their lives bestowed upon us within their God-given vocation to holiness.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10). The life that Jesus wants to bestow upon us more than anything, brothers and sisters, is the fruit of Eternal Life.
Thus, in these ways and more, dearly beloved, may we continue to express greater faith, hope, and love in Christ, and even more, during this month of November, let us express a greater thanksgiving in our absolute need for Christ as our Triumphant Savior, He who for our sake makes the “final pass” over sin and death, leading us to the abundant life of Heavenly Glory with all of the saints forever. For this, we should all be eternally thankful.
I know I am. Peace and blessings to you now and forever. Amen.
Blessing of the Harvest
Almighty Lord God, You keep on giving abundance to men in the dew of heaven, and food out of the richness of the soil. We give thanks to Your most gracious majesty for the fruits of the field which we have gathered. We beg of You, in Your mercy, to bless our harvest, which we have received from Your generosity. Preserve it, and keep it from all harm. Grant, too, that all those whose desires You have filled with these good things may be happy in Your protection. May they praise Your mercies forever, and make use of the good things that do not last, in such a way that they may not lose those goods that are everlasting, through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.
