Hope

A barn in the autumn woods, taken by
Sister Carleen Schomer

St. Benedict left us with tools for good living. Reading Michael Casey’s book Seventy-Four Tools for Good Living has been enlightening and important during this pandemic. It offers reflections on the fourth chapter of Benedict’s Rule. Questions of “How am I using the tools of helping others in time of trouble, reaching out to strangers, providing comfort to those in pain, and other attributes which guide living a good life.”

Committing hope in God comes to mind today as rain saturates the earth. Yesterday, we planted 100 trees on the farm land. The land is a habitat for God’s creatures and will belong to our grandchildren in the future. Growing these trees is a labor of love, and nature will determine which ones live or die. But, we still plant.

Growing up on a farm, I learned from my parents every year when the crops were planted it was a risk. A risk they were willing to take to feed the family, feed the cows, and feed the hungry in the world. Farmers, above all others, understand committing hope in God. The rain today would have been called “a million dollar rain” by my dad. His reasoning was the crops are in, now we need the rain from God. Trust and hope in God were the mainstays of a farm life. Prayer was vital to that trust and hope. How many of us have heard at Sunday Mass the call to pray for good crops or rain?

Today, hearing the rain, I remembered my dad’s words. Yes, it is a “million dollar rain” and God has provided. This is why we plant crops, trees and gardens. Committing hope in God grows out of a stable and strong faith. Hope is an action, a choice to believe all things are possible with God on our side.

My husband and I will not be able to fully enjoy these mature trees in the future. Trees take years of growth. Yet, our hope is one day our grandchildren will. The perpetual life cycle continues and to be part of that cycle, doing good works, is what God wants of us.

It was this spring I wrote this, and now in October, the harvesting has begun. A good year most farmers here in Wisconsin would say. The trees my husband and I planted in the spring are growing too. And hope will continue to help us feel God’s presence in our lives. Today I viewed the first snow telling me the cycle of life continues. May you find hope in the days ahead of us.

Mary S. Baier, OblSB