The
question has often been asked of us, “Why do you do that?” This question is asked primarily about our
frequently choosing the “hard way” to do things. Why do I cut hay with a scythe instead of a tractor? Why do I cut down trees with an ax instead
of using a chainsaw? Why do I milk
goats instead of just buying milk from the store?
The answers
to these questions and those like them are fourfold.
First, we
are poor. I hate saying that, because I
don’t feel like we’re poor – we just don’t have any money. We have an abundance of nourishing goat milk
at nearly all times in the fridge.
Occasionally we have other dairy confections in the fridge as well –
yogurt, cheese, ice cream. We
have an abundance of eggs from our chickens.
We have fresh berries both wild and cultivated. We have fresh orchard fruit on the way in a
couple of years. We have a big garden
full of nutritious vegetables. We have
a warm and relatively dry house (although she needs a new roof).
Beyond
this, we are immeasurably rich in immaterial goods. Our family is healthy and loving. Our boys are flourishing and our oldest is getting ready to make
his first confession. We have our
fourth on the way and everything is going very well so far with the
pregnancy. We live next to and are
friends with awesome Sisters. And most
importantly, we are profoundly blessed that we get to go to Eucharistic Adoration
and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every single day. With this kind of wealth, we don’t consider ourselves poor.
The fact
remains, however, that we have very little money. Jesus always gets us just enough to pay the bills, but rarely is
there much left for extra expenditures.
For
example, tractor implements cost way more money than we could ever afford to
spend even if we wanted them (and we don’t).
My scythe and all the tools necessary to keep it in working condition
cost under $300. A scythe is pretty
simple. It has three parts, and
sharpening the blade is the only regular maintenance required.
So, reason
number one for why we do things the hard way is “Holy Simplicity” (which is our
mitigated form of the Sisters’ Holy Poverty).
We are trying to live the poverty of Nazareth. We don’t renounce all possessions as religious do, but we are
trying to live simply so as not to be distracted from our love of God by love
of money or comfort or distracting technology or things like that.
Along with
holy simplicity goes holy silence, both for us and for the Sisters. The scythe is much quieter and less
distracting to prayer than the tractor, which can be heard all across the
property.
Second, the
hard way is usually much more in line with the Church’s teaching on
subsidiarity – briefly, that production and consumption should be coterminus as
far as possible - and therefore independence.
I can repair my scythe by myself (within reason) and I don’t need a
bunch of factory made parts from who-knows-where to repair it. And it would certainly be easier for a local
blacksmith to make a scythe blade than any of the complex pieces required for
modern farm machinery.
And
furthermore, regardless of how affordable (or unaffordable) government
subsidies make gasoline, there is no way I could ever produce that on my
own. The scythe, the ax, and the
bucksaw do not need an oil-refinery to function properly.
The more we
can do locally, smaller, or for ourselves, the better according to Church
teaching and natural law… and common sense, which Chesterton rightly said, is
the least common sense of all.
Third, I
want to spend as little time in Purgatory as possible. I am a sinner who needs a LOT of penance and
the “hard way” affords me many more opportunities to embrace this remedial
penance.
Fourth, and
most important, the Sacred Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is so wounded by the
sacrilege, indifference, and offense it receives from men. The suffering caused by the “hard way” can
be offered as a gift to console the Heart of Jesus, to show Him our love. This reparation can also work for the
salvation of the souls of those sinners who are so grievously wounding that
Sacred Heart.
Our Lord told St Margaret Mary that He suffers more from the indifference and
irreverence shown Him in the Blessed Sacrament than anything He suffered in the
Passion.
Saint
Francis of Assisi addressed his Third Order as the “Brothers and Sisters of
Penance.
It is my
desire that we Lay Missionaries of the Children of Mary may be worthy of the
title, “Brothers and Sisters of Reparation.”
May many
more souls join us on the “hard way” of penance and reparation. Let us drown out the blasphemous noise
rising all round our Eucharistic Lord with the chorus of our love for Him. On the “hard way” we have chosen, that
narrow way that leads to the Cross, let our song resound: “Jesus, Mary, I love
you, save souls!”
In His Heart,
Wes
