I write this article on May 15
th, the feast of St. Isidore: a hired hand, husband, farmer, and father. His image will be one of the new stained glass windows put up at St. Joseph’s Parish, Killdeer.
Most ranchers are just about through calving season and many farmers have already entered the fields. There are a number of different professions but most know that farmers and ranchers have a connection with the God-created-land that others do not have the privilege to experience. Ranchers see life and death in a real way. They shed tears at the loss of a calf, or three, when no one is looking. Farmers wait on the weather hoping for sunshine when it’s planting time, and rain when it’s growing time. They hope against desert-dry-weather lest their planting be in vain or the neighbor’s pasture goes up in flames.
Whether you are a farmer, rancher, or both, you participate in God’s created world and are given the privilege to make and shape the world as you see best. Every farmer and rancher knows deep down inside that this is a great gift which could be taken at any moment. Yet, the farmer trusts it won’t be taken and plants again. The rancher hopes for a better year and buys a new bull. Treasure this gift often and thank the Good Lord for such a blessing to take part in his creation. Genesis chapter one says God created the world in seven days. This is true for God’s days are different than ours; yet, we know his creation has not stopped. Farmers and ranchers participate in the eighth day of creation. They keep our country alive and raise another generation to do the same. God needed someone to till the soil and care for his animals, so he chose you.
Thank you farmers and ranchers for the good work you do for God, your family, and our country. May God bless you and St. Isidore pray for you.