Some people have actually heard corn growing. They tell me this happens when all the conditions are just right; enough good weather and plenty of rain.
Looking around our area makes me think there must have been a lot of noise in the fields this past growing season. Corn, beans, hay, grains, you name it, they have all grown like gangbusters. What a miracle when we think how it all comes from seeds that are planted.Maybe, if you are like me, reminders help from time to time. Harvest season is upon us. Gardens and fields both are producing the fruit from all that has been growing. I am reminded that our God of all creation planted the seed of faith in my life to bear good fruit. If the conditions are just right, and with enough prayer, receiving the sacraments, striving to love God and my neighbor, this can result in a fruitful life.
So, I wonder if people can hear me growing when they listen to my words, when I speak through my actions, when I talk from the heart. How about you? The same God who provides a bounty from the acres around us desires to make his home within us along with Jesus Christ whose Holy Spirit is forever the first gift, the first fruits to those who believe. This is to remind us to keep growing with his help; to allow him to keep us in touch with the seasons of our lives; to be ready for the harvest.
Now, the farms and gardens are host to machines both great and small as their operators toil at picking, reaping, baling, and bringing in the crops. May this remind us of how we are all called to do our part by the Master of the Harvest. Our part is to grow and produce through the miracle of his transforming power planted within us at Baptism. Then we will have the words, the actions, and the heart of Christ to share with others; the fruit of having grown to better know him who alone can feed body and soul.
A rich harvest is there for the taking when you and I labor in service to the Lord; when we grow in our desire to give of ourselves; to feed our world which hungers and thirsts to know him.
Msgr. Daniel Ganshert is the vicar general for the Diocese of Madison