During warm weather months, before the sun rises, I take great pleasure in sitting in the garden. It is a peaceful time and there is little noise except for birds and an occasional news helicopter reporting the traffic on Route 28. As of late, there has been a noisy visitor, albeit a welcome one. A green hummingbird, (rarely seen in the city), has been visiting my Canna Lillies. He hovers so closely that the flutter of his wings can be heard as he draws the sweet nectar into his long thin beak. Sometimes he returns three or four times to the same flower, as if he can’t get enough. It makes me think of this weekend’s Gospel reading of John 6: 24-35, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” How sweet, this heavenly bread is, sweeter than any nectar found on the vine. We can never get enough of this heavenly bread! Soon, farmers will harvest wheat and it will be used to make our earthly bread. I wonder how many farmers or how much acreage it takes to feed all the people in our country… As manna fed the children of Israel, so too, may we be fed daily on the true Bread of Life.
The Garden Saints
St. Isidore (May 15), born in Spain in 1070 and died in 1130, worked as a poor laborer in the fields and was known for his kindness to people and animals. He performed miracles, one of which involved the multiplication of food upon his witnessing a flock of starving birds, and another time when he was sharing his food with a large group of beggars. He is known as the patron of Madrid, Spain and considered the patron of farmers, as well as patron of the United States National Rural Life Conference.
