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ST. JOHN the EVANGELIST CCD
Grades:  Kindergarten through Junior High
Phone: 916 -483-4628
Email: ccd@sjecarmichael.org

May 15
Last week, on May 8, all our CCD children honored their mothers with Mother’s Day cards. These children were simply delighted to show their appreciation for their mothers in this way. On Sunday, we also shared the history of Our Lady of Fatima, and together we prayed the Hail Mary.
Our Saint of the Week is St. Isidore, the Farmer, whose feast day falls on May 15. There actually was nothing exceptional about St. Isidore’s life except for his obvious holiness. In the year 1070, Isidore was born in Madrid, Spain, to poor but devout Catholic parents. He had very little education, and as soon as Isidore was old enough to work, he began working on a farm on an estate near the city as a hired hand. Truthfully, he worked his entire life for Juan de Vergas, a wealthy landowner.
Later, he married Maria Torribia, who also shared Isidore’s humble and laborious life. Maria and Isidore had only one child, a son. One day when their son fell into a deep well, Maria and Isidore prayed fervently by this well, and then miraculously the level of the water rose reaching the level of the ground. This enabled his parents to pull their son out of the well before he could drown. Much later, however their son died while he was still in his youth. This holy couple then dedicated their lives to God.
St. Isidore was noted for his humility, his deep faith, his reverence for nature and the poor, and his religious attitude toward work. Every morning Isidore woke up early to attend Mass before he began his work. After Mass he would commune with God, his guardian angel, and the saints as he plowed the fields. When his employer discovered that Isidore did not begin his work on time, he went very early to the farm one morning. On both sides of Isidore were strangers, complete with plows and teams of white oxen plowing alongside him. As Juan approached Isidore, these people disappeared, so his employer said to Isidore, “Tell me, who are these men who were ploughing with you just now?” In response, Isidore replied,” I have not seen any person. I ask no help from anyone but God each morning at Holy Mass.” Juan de Vergas then understood that these two men ploughing with Isidore were really angels sent by God to help His faithful servant in return for Isidore’s attending Mass every day. It has also been recorded that later Isidore brought his master’s deceased daughter back to life. In addition, once Isidore caused a totally dry fountain to burst with fresh water to satisfy Juan’s horrible thirst.
His wife Maria always kept a full pot of stew in the fireplace, because Isidore frequently brought anyone who was hungry to his humble home. On one occasion when numerous hungry people accompanied Isidore to their home, the pot soon was totally empty. When Isidore instructed his wife to again check this empty pot, she noticed that the pot was now full, so every-one there was able to be fed. At a parish supper, an entire crowd of beggars followed Isidore to the hall. One parishioner mentioned to Isidore that there would not be enough food to feed this crowd, but Isidore replied that there would be more than enough food for these people because Christ would provide for them, and then the food multiplied.
Through prayer, Isidore saved the life of a donkey, who had been attacked by a wolf. Similarly, when pigeons were searching for food on the hard surface of frosty ground, Isidore poured half of his sack of wheat onto the ground for the birds. Witnesses observing this occurrence ridiculed Isidore. When Isidore returned to the mill, his bag then became full, and after the wheat was ground, it produced double the expected amount of flour that was expected.
On May 15, 1130, Isidore died, and after several years his blessed wife Maria also died. It was on March 12, 1622, that Pope Gregory XV canon-ized St. Isidore. Later his wife, known as Santa Maria de la Cabeza, was also honored as a saint. Some four hundred years after Isidore’s death when King Philip III of Spain fell sick due to a fatal illness, the relics of St. Isidore were brought in a procession to his sickroom, and he recovered as his fever immediately disappeared. St. Isidore’s simple life was totally filled with a sense of God, and over 438 miracles are attributed to his intercessions. Today, St. Isidore is honored to be the patron saint of farmers, day laborers, peasants, truck drivers and agriculture. He is portrayed in art as a peasant holding a sickle and a sheaf of corn.
OUR PRAYER: O GOD, THROUGH THE INTERCESSION OF ST. ISIDORE THE HOLY FARMER GRANT THAT WE MAY OVERCOME THE FEELINGS OF PRIDE. MAY WE ALWAYS SERVE YOU WITH HUMILITY. AMEN


Yours in Christ,
Mrs. Joanne Giffard, CCD/Religious Education Coordinator          ccd@sjecarmichael.org