It's a rainy day here in Nebraska, and that’s a wonderful thing. We've been in drought conditions for a long time now, and every little bit over our standard rainfall helps. So I'm always happy to see rain, even with leaky gutters to contend with at our house.

Funny how some people don’t understand the significance of rainfall and drought. Not long ago, a woman indicated to me that she despised rain and snow and wished it would be sunny ever day. I pointed out that the farmers needed the moisture, and she said she didn't care.

Have I mentioned the fact that I have a big mouth?

With my dander up, I glared at her and asked, "Do you eat?"

"Do I what?"

"Do you eat?"

"Yeah."

"Then you care about farmers."

Where do people think the food stocked in their grocery stores comes from, anyway? Many of our farmers are really hurting in this country. In times of drought, it can actually cost more to raise crops than the prices farmers get for them at harvest.

I remember my father-in-law thundering about this a long time ago. He was frustrated that a box of corn flakes was almost $4, and yet he was only getting $2.20 a bushel for the corn he raised. I don't know exactly how many boxes of corn flakes a bushel of corn makes, but it's a whole lot. And my father-in-law's portion of the proceeds from that bushel of corn was so painfully low, it makes you wonder why anybody farms at all.

So what does this have to do with Catholicism? Well…maybe nothing. Or maybe a lot. Every day at Mass in our parish, the prayers of the people include requests for rain. There is an understanding here that even though nobody in our parish is a farmer (it's downtown -- any farms would be in another parish) we have a moral responsibility to pray for the rain. And yeah, there is a personal interest in that because if farmers can't produce grain for food, feed, fuel, plastic and all the other stuff it's used for, it would greatly affect each and ever one of us. But we're also told in the Bible to uphold our brothers in difficult times and to bear each other's burdens. (Galations 6:2)

There's another thing to consider. Throughout the Old Testament, God used natural catastrophes like famine and flood to get the attention of His people. And because I believe the God is eternal and therefore unchanging, I don't see why He wouldn’t do the same thing today. Maybe He's trying to tell our whole society to shape up. On the other hand, when you're dealing with people who don’t connect the groceries they buy with the farmers who raise the food, it's not a very cut-and-dried kind of lesson in this day and age.

Of course, I only learned to pay attention to things like drought after I married into a family that had a 120-year-old farm to take care of. In a lot of ways, I'm no different than the woman I spoke of above. I tend to only care about the things that affect me or somebody I love directly. Didn't care about education until I had kids, for example. I'm guilty of short-sightedness in so many ways. I hope part of my growth as a Christian includes broadening my perspective.

Well, while I think that over, I am going to be thanking God for the rain we were blessed with in Nebraska today. And asking for a little more to help us overcome the current drought conditions. Won’t you join me?

--Sparki