By Fr. Brian Wirth,
Director of Catholic Rural Life
As I write this column, we celebrate the Fall Ember Days.
Ember Days are three days of fasting and abstinence observed four times a year—i.e., the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday in view of the four seasons. Ember Days occur on the weekdays after the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept. 14 ); the feast of St. Lucy (Dec. 13); Ash Wednesday; and Pentecost.
Ember Days help the Church focus on the goodness of the fruits of God’s creation. Further, Ember Days are specific times to intentionally pray for vocations to the priesthood. Traditionally, Ember Days were often chosen as the dates for the celebration of Holy Orders.
As farmers across Nebraska are about to begin or have begun their fall harvest, Ember Days are a fruitful exercise. Specifically, fall Ember Days are a time of thanksgiving for the blessing of the grape harvest and related fruits harvested during autumn.
As grapes are gathered and pressed to make wine, the winepress points toward Christ, who poured His Blood for the forgiveness of sins. We remember the crushing blows and suffering Christ endured for us on the Cross.
During harvest, God can bring abundant fruit from our sacrifices from the earth. This is not achieved only in physical labor, but also in our spiritual labors. To highlight, I share two stories.
First, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, there was a viral video of a priest celebrating a school Mass.
During the Eucharistic Prayer while saying the words of consecration over the chalice, the priest was moved to the point of tears, later stating: “During the consecration prayer over the wine at the altar, as I spoke the words, I was given what I believe to be internal knowledge of the power of these words being spoken and the reality of their effect to the point that I had difficulty speaking. With each word, I became more physically overwhelmed. At the same time, I was given sensory knowledge of the weight of God’s power coming down upon the altar, and I felt the heaviness of Jesus’s substantial presence in the chalice in my hands.”
Considering the fall Ember Days, this was no coincidence, but providential.
I am thankful for this priest’s witness of our Crucified and Risen Lord, toward the ordinary gifts of bread and wine which through the Church, grace, and Christ’s Eternal Priesthood are transformed into the extraordinary gifts of Jesus’ Body and Blood.
Upon the earth, united with Christ, we labor and suffer, creating precious gifts that are transformed by extraordinary love.
This hit home recently in Minden and Heartwell, as I along with more than 70 priests had to say goodbye to a dear friend, a loving husband/father/grandfather, a skilled farmer, and a heroically faithful disciple of Christ, Dean Schwenka, father of Father Drew and Father Christian Schwenka.
At Holy Family Cemetery in Heartwell, I was struck by the beauty of the land. The cemetery was surrounded by bountiful green and gold fields of corn and soybeans soon ready for the harvest. As a man devoted to faith, family, and farming, Dean was laid to rest in the heart of the Good Life with Christ the Sower among family and friends under the mantle of the Most Holy Family.
To end the committal, all were invited to participate in the corporal work of mercy of burying the dead by shoveling precious soil onto the casket.
Like the priest at the school Mass, I was overcome with emotion; a pre-fall Ember Day fruit. Emotional yet hopeful in gratitude for Dean, his two priest sons whom I’m blessed to call brother priests, his family whom I’ve been blessed to minister to over the years, gratitude for his love of farming, and for his sacrificial witness and love for myself and many within the Diocese of Lincoln.
In the land that Dean so loved, he faithfully returned to it as all of us one day will, remembering that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.
Though sorrowful, remember dust is not a burden; dust is part of the earth and what formed our being, a gift ultimately uniting us to Christ the Sower and the Paschal Mystery.
As we begin another fall harvest, may we always give thanks for the earth and the fruits produced from the soil.
Finally, in eternal hope may we all await the greatest fruit of the soil, eternal life via the Resurrection.
We love you, Dean. See you soon in the Eucharist and the Resurrection.
