Today we celebrate this memorial of St. Isidore, a farmer, patron saint of farmers, and I suppose
we can consider him a bit of a patron saint of us too here at the farm. And we read from
his entry in the Roman Martyrology. May 15th, at Madrid in Spain, St. Isidore the farmer,
who together with his wife, Blessed Maria de la Cabeza, labored strenuously and patiently
harvesting more the fruits of heaven than those of the earth, and stood as a most pious
exemplar of Christian farmers. So we see here in the description of St. Isidore the farmer,
along with his wife, who is blessed, that they labored strenuously. That is, they overcame that
vice and that temptation to laziness, sometimes called sloth, one of the seven capital sins. They
overcame it by laboring strenuously. That is, putting forth the effort needed to fulfill their
duties as farmers. And now, God gives different strength to different people, right? We can
talk about physical strength. We all have different physical constitutions, and even
one's own strength, as they get older, tends to wane. So there are different strengths, actually,
as we prayed in today's response to Oriel's psalm, that God gives power and strength to his people,
but not to all people equally. But we could also talk about mental strength, right? Just putting
forth mental exertion, if somebody is doing intellectual work. In fact, I know a man who grew
up on a farm, and knew by experience that that was hard labor. And so when he came of age, he said
that he preferred to push a pencil. And so he became a teacher, and eventually became the
principal of the school. But that didn't mean he avoided working hard. It's just he discerned and
determined that the strength that God gave him was different than the strength that God gave to other
people. So what's important is that we're all using the strength that God has given us to fulfill our
duties, to fulfill the will of God, and that we put this strength at the loving service of others. We
read this in today's first reading, where St. Paul says, You know well that these very hands have
served my needs and my companions. In every way I have shown you that by hard work of that sort, we
must help the weak. You see that? That spirit of charity, animating St. Paul and putting his
strength to the service of others, especially the weak. We talk about that in today's collect as
well, the opening prayer of the Mass, that we are called to share our food with the hungry, and to
work for the salvation of all people. Because no matter what work we're doing, it has spiritual
value for ourselves, for our own sanctification, and the salvation and sanctification of others.
And that's again why the entry for St. Isidore in the Roman Martyrology says that he and his wife
harvested more the fruits of heaven than those of the earth. St. Isidore, pray for us. In the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
you