I looked and looked for the canine version of "American Gothic", but had no success. So, I had to settle for a copy of the original. As an aside note, I think the guy looks like Fr. Meitl (my pastor as I grew up in Colby - who, by the way is still alive and in better health than I). The image came to me as we were praying our last novena to St. Isidore. There are a lot of people who consider this pious act of prayer a hokey tradition. Others might call it superstition. Still others might call it some form of idolatry. Honestly, until this year I was not much of a fan of the novena myself. I would hear people say, "let's pray a novena for rain;" as if we were paying homage to a lesser deity who would irrigate our crops if we say the right words. Now, I know that this was not their intention, and that these suggestions for prayer were sincere acts of faith in our living and true God; but to my ears, this practice always smacked of superstition. I have to admit, though, that every time we have prayed the novena since I've been here, it has rained...many times, on the first night. Even with that record, I still wasn't sold. It wasn't until I came to participate in the ritual myself that I became a fan. I sat in the back pew like a good Catholic and joined in the litany of prayers, very much unmoved. Then I listened to the reflections and I was inspired. The author described various stories from the life of St. Isidore and his wife Maria. They were depicted as models for Christian living, and that was good. But the part that hooked me were the reflections that spoke of the dignity of work, stewardship of the soil, works of mercy specific to rural living, and especially the call to family life. These reflections had some depth to them. Yet is wasn't just the admonitions to live as Christ taught us that got me excited. As the evenings of prayer continued, I began to look around at the people gathered for prayer and realized that these too are models of Christian living. I found joy in recognizing a particular goodness in rural living. No longer was the novena just "so that I can get some rain"; rather it had become for me a genuine support and movement toward a holy lifestyle specific to those who live in rural areas. Yep. With the novena to St. Isidore we do pray for rain as well as protection against storms, floods, pests etc., but I recently learned that something much more profound happens when we gather. We open ourselves to a transforming union with Christ and wholeness of life.