Our first reading, from Ecclesiastes, tells us: "For everything there is a season: a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to weep a time to laugh; a time to scatter and a time to gather." Today is a time for gathering and a time for rejoicing. Harvest Festival has its roots in the Old Testament. According to the Book of Exodus, on the eve of their entry to the promised land, the Lord spoke to the children of Israel as follows: "Each year you shall keep the feast of the grain harvest and the fruit harvest, when you gather in the first crop and other produce from the fields." Today, we, like the children of Israel, thank God for the earth that we inhabit and all that is in it. We thank God for the land that produces the fruits and vegetables we need for food and nourishment. We thank God for the abundance of water that is ours. We thank God for the animals that provide us with milk and meat, clothing and even companionship. We thank him for the sea and its abundant life and nourishment. We thank him, in short, for 'the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands.'
We also give thanks for God's providence and for the diligent work of all those people who have planted, cared for and harvested the crops and reared the animals. Thus we offer back with thanksgiving that which God has given as we praise God and demonstrate our gratitude.
However, our Harvest Thanksgiving is much more. In his second letter, Paul challenges the Corinthians to be generous and bountiful: "Those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly; those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully....He who supplies seed for the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness." The harvest is not intended for individuals; it has been harvested by the community; it should be shared with the community. The sower and reaper rejoices together.
In the gospel reading, from John, we invited to lift our eyes from our immediate concerns to the great harvest that is the divine plan: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me. I tell you, lift up your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest. He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life." There is more to life than simply gathering the harvest and eating and drinking. There is the daily, unending task of being faithful to the teaching of Jesus: he demands that we love God and care for one another. We are reminded that God has made us stewards of creation and has given us the task of looking after the earth properly; as well as stewards of one another, gently leading and guiding others in living the fully Christian life.
Harvest Thanksgiving offers encouragement to those among us who are in the autumn of life. Because they are no longer as energetic as they once were, they sometimes they may feel useless. Yet as we look around at the wonderful harvest, we realise that the crops could not have been harvested unless, firstly, they had developed and matured until they had accumulated all the richness and growth that made them ripe and ready for harvesting. Their beautiful colours and sturdiness that indicate their ripeness provide an important lesson for us about the dignity and worth of our elderly people. Throughout their lives they have acquired much wisdom and experience that they share with those of us who are younger and still have much to learn about what really matters in life. The words of todays gospel are entirely appropriate: "I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour; others have done the work; now we are enjoying the fruits of their labour." We are simply enjoying today what a previous generation has passed on to us.
And, at the other end of the spectrum that is human life, rests the greatest fruit of all harvests: the new-born baby. We are delighted to welcome into the church and into the Christian community on this Harvest Sunday baby Luke Molloy. We pray that throughout his life he will enjoy the abundance of good things he first witnessed here in the Augustinian Church in Galway on Harvest Sunday morning.
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