A cooperation in God's Grace

For most children and their parents, the weeks that follow Easter are reminders that this long winter is finally over and summer is fast approaching. For me, this season means many blessed opportunities to visit our parishes as I celebrate the sacraments of Confirmation and First Eucharist. Assisting in this ministry is our emeritus Bishop, William Skylstad. Though officially retired, he serves as the Director of spiritual Life at Bishop White Seminary, helps lead marriage encounters throughout the world and even finds time to assist with First Eucharist and Confirmation. He has encouraged me to take in the beauty of Eastern Washington, especially when I travel to the more rural areas of our diocese. 

These visits often bring me to vibrant rural parishes that flourish, thanks to the dedication and faith of the hard-working families that support the parishes. During these visits I often get to enjoy not only the natural beauty of the state but also the agricultural bounty of our region. 

While not the only crops grown in Eastern Washington — two that stand out to me as a Catholic Bishop are the abundance of wheat farms and wine vineyards in our state. These crops are special to us as Catholics for without them we cannot celebrate the Eucharist. At each Mass we recognize in the gifts weoffer — bread and wine — the contribution of both God and man. We thank God for “the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth and work of human hands,” as well as for “the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine and work of human hands.” In these offertory prayers of the Mass we recognize the contributions of our own human efforts, especially the efforts of our brothers and sisters who work in agriculture, as part of that gift from the Lord. 

Our liturgy, like our Lord, is both divine and human; that is clear even in the gifts we offer which through the grace of the sacrament become for us the real presence of Jesus. We are blessed to live in a region that is connected to those gifts in a real and tangible way. Even in the city of Spokane it is only a short drive to see wheat growing in the fields, or to appreciate the beauty
of vineyards and know that through the gift of God’s grace and the work of so many of our brothers and sisters that even something as lofty as the Mass is rooted in the world around us. Everything we encounter can be a cooperation in God’s grace — a reality that is ever present to those who are blessed to work closely with the land.