May 15, 2019
St. Isidore, St. Isidore,
To you we ask, to you we implore:
Please let it (or not) shine or pour,
Bring on the bee, hold off the hoar;
Coax the oat, swell the meat
Of grape and nut;
encourage the wheat
To ripen fat in August heat
Then lay down, brown, for us to beat.
Sweeten the soil's sour grievance.
Correct the mustard's weak malfeasance,
Raise up the corn in rows of tassel,
Bow down the cherry as a fruitful vassal;
O Guardian of squash and tendrilled pea,
Hoeing away at sanctity,
All ills of bud and vine and lea,
But mostly our garden, remedy.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.