Bishop Ricken celebrates annual Rural Life Day Mass in Tisch Mills

TISCH MILLS — During a Rural Life Day Mass at St. Isidore the Farmer Church March 26, Bishop David Ricken tied Scripture readings for the day to the work of farmers.

“God loves his creation and he calls us to be participants with him in cultivating the land,” said Bishop Ricken, reflecting on the creation story from Genesis. “In cultivating gifts we have been given, never forget the donor, the giver of all of these gifts. … So incumbent upon us is the call to be good stewards of what we have been given and to make sure we pass it on, that we are very generous ourselves, just like our God is.”

A sign outside of St. Isidore the Farmer Parish in Tisch Mills welcomes local Catholics to the Diocese of Green Bay’s annual Rural Life Day Mass and blessing of farm equipment and animals. Bishop David Ricken celebrated the March 26 Mass. (Sam Lucero | The Compass)

A sign outside of St. Isidore the Farmer Parish in Tisch Mills welcomes local Catholics to the Diocese of Green Bay’s annual Rural Life Day Mass and blessing of farm equipment and animals. Bishop David Ricken celebrated the March 26 Mass. (Sam Lucero | The Compass)

The Rural Life Day Mass in Tisch Mills was the second of two gatherings sponsored by the Diocese of Green Bay and the diocesan Rural Life Committee. The annual spring events, which include a lunch and guest speaker, mark the beginning of a new planting season. They are partially funded through donations given to the annual Bishop’s Appeal. The first Mass was held at St. Mary Church in Crivitz on March 24 and was celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Robert Morneau.

Fr. Willie Van De Loo, a senior priest of the diocese, served as speaker at both gatherings. His presentation was titled “I am the sower of seeds. I am the tender of stock.”

Joining Bishop Ricken and Fr. Van De Loo at the Tisch Mills Mass were Fr. Dennis Drury, pastor of St. Isidore the Farmer, and senior priests Fr. Bill Rickert, Fr. Paul Vanden Hogen and Fr. Tony Birdsall, all former diocesan directors of the Catholic Rural Life Conference. Also assisting at the Mass were Deacon Robert Wavrunek and his wife Christal, members of St. Isidore the Farmer Parish and the Rural Life Committee. Until recently, they had operated a 228-acre farm in Zander, rural Manitowoc County.

Bishop Ricken said farmers, who work the soil, know that the crops they reap are gifts from God.

“You know when you plant a seed in the ground, what comes up? A lot more than you planted, right?” he said. “That’s how rich God is. But God has set this in the course of creation and he calls us not to be owners. … God is the owner. Everything is on loan to us. Everything we have is a pure gift.”

God’s abundant generosity is something for farmers to emulate, Bishop Ricken said.

“We are designed and created to be generous, to be loving, to be kind, to make sure we take care of our brothers and sisters who are suffering,” he said. “Every season you get to reap the harvest. The fact that a tiny seed or seeds can multiply into this huge harvest, … that is an incredible, bounteous blessing.”

Farmers have their patron saint, St. Isidore, and his wife Maria (St. Maria de la Cabeza), to serve as role models of generosity and gratefulness, said Bishop Ricken.

“Isidore … was a grateful person. Maria was the same way,” he said. “They understood generosity, they understood the abundance of God’s love and provision for his people and they also understood that this is not to be kept for myself. This is to be shared with those who have less than I do.”

About Matthew’s Gospel account of the Parable of the Sower, Bishop Ricken said Wisconsin farmers know what it means to plant seed in rich soil. “I grew up out west. Most of that (land) is arid territory and depends on irrigation. You live here, where we are blessed with so much water. Don’t take it for granted.”

He encouraged the assembly to count their blessings. “Every day, get up and thank the Lord for the gift of life, thank the Lord you can come to your church every Sunday and praise God; that you can pray together as a family.”

Like the seed that falls on rich ground, he said, families must cultivate their thoughts and prepare to hear the word of God in order to “receive the seed of the word on solid, rich ground,” said Bishop Ricken.

This can be accomplished by practicing what he called “lectio divina,” an ancient prayer exercise developed by St. Benedict in the sixth century. Lectio divina allows a person to withdraw into contemplation of a reading from Scripture.

As part of Bishop Ricken’s six-year plan for the diocese, “Disciples on the Way,” and its first two-year focus on prayer, “I am going around, teaching people to meditate, how to contemplate” the readings at Sunday Mass, he said.

“Our job is to get our minds tilled to receive the word in a more loving way and to get our hearts tilled and purified as individuals and families so that we are receiving the love Christ is constantly pouring out to us,” added Bishop Ricken.

Bishop Ricken said that, through Disciples on the Way, he is “expecting a big change in this diocese.”

“I’m expecting every Mass to be filled because people like you will start inviting your neighbors. People like you are not afraid anymore … to look for opportunities to love others and reach out to them with good news,” he said.

At the end of Mass, Bishop Ricken led the assembly in a litany to St. Isidore. He then blessed seeds that were brought to church by farm families.

Following a procession to the church parking lot, Bishop Ricken then led a blessing of farm equipment and animals, including a Sicilian donkey, a calf and chickens.

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