Bishop requests prayers for safe harvest

October 16, 2003

Dear Friends in Christ,

Twice a year in our diocese we continue to celebrate the Rogation Days. These are days of prayer in the spring and fall of the year that ask for God's blessing on our land, crops and livestock. In spring we pray for a good planting, for rain and for a bountiful harvest. In the fall, we pray for the safety of our farmers as they harvest the crops. We also pray in thanksgiving for the gifts that have been showered on us.

Farming communities and rural dioceses like ours know in their everyday experience how much they depend upon the Lord and his providence. The bounty of this territory helps feed this country and nations far beyond its borders. Food does more than nurture the body; it prepares a restored humanity for its work in building a culture of life and in proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

I want to recommend to all our pastors and people the materials sent out again this year by the Coalition to Preserve Family Farms and the Rural Life Office of our diocese. There are suggestions for the celebration of the Eucharist, for prayer services and notes for good discussions on the issues of faith and farming.

On the Vigil of Easter and on Pentecost Sunday each year, one of the psalm refrains of the Liturgy is "Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth."

The words are from Psalm 103, a magnificent description of the beauty of the earth, sea and skies, of mountains, lakes and rivers. The Psalm is a celebration of Creation, of how God has care for all things, "living things great and small."

At the center of Creation is the human person who praises the glory of God and fulfills the work of stewardship over the land. "You hide your face, they are dismayed; you take back their spirit, they die returning to the dust from which they came. You send forth your spirit; they are created; and you renew the face of the earth." The glory of the Lord most shines in the faces of human beings, male and female, young and old, rich and poor. They find their joy in the Lord.

This psalm recalls for me an important aspect of stewardship: care for the earth and environment. This theme has become even more prominent in the recent works of the Holy Father. But as always, the Holy Father puts environmental concerns in an important context.

He has written: "In addition to the irrational destruction of the natural environment, we must also mention the more serious destruction of the human environment. Not only has God given the earth to man and woman, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given to him and to her, but man and woman too are God's gift to humanity." (Centesimus Annus, # 38)

Thus, though we must work to sustain a healthy, beautiful and life sustaining natural environment, we should not so narrow our focus that we obscure the link between social/economic justice and the environment. Certain patterns of over-consumption and waste, patterns in which all of us participate, also make their mark on the environment. One should not underestimate the role that poverty plays in the degradation of the environment. To try to deal with one issue without claiming the resolution of the other will not lead to sustainable development.

The Holy Father has been very clear about his concerns on these two intertwined issues. I have only begun to read about this recently, but it is worth our attention, as a people who love the land and want to preserve its integrity, to keep in mind the human persons affected by poverty. They must be a central concerns in any environmentally sound development and they must be allowed to share in the decisions that will be made to protect and defend the good earth and all things great and small that are found on it!

This year as we reflect on the graciousness of God in our Rogation Days, let us consider also the negative environmental impact brought about by some of our public policies and also by our private practices. These do affect the terrain, the land and the air and water; but they also affect vulnerable and poor people. The common good deserves a more comprehensive understanding of the natural environment as linked to the human environment! "Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord!"

Sincerely yours in Christ,

†Most Rev. Daniel N. DiNardo
Bishop of Sioux City