Resist and pray

It happens one Sunday every two months, in the Pays de la Mée, in Upper Brittany. Gathered at the same mass, a few peasant friends who do not all work in the same way come together to pray together, then share a fraternal meal. Agnès, herself a sheep breeder, is amazed to tell me about this little adventure. Each meeting is an opportunity for them to discuss together this or that proposed subject. “Recently, by organizing the meeting,” confides Agnès, “we realized that what we are preparing in this fraternity is entry into resistance: we have no choice as Christians.”

Resistance against an agricultural system which has too often lost respect for humanity along the way, starting with that of the farmer himself. And who also sometimes forgets respect for the earth, for the diversity of the creatures that share it. A prayer was composed to support the approach of this group. The latter says in particular: “I offer you my rising in the early morning, my whining back and the calluses on my hands. My sweat, my cold feet, all my daily work. The holes in my cash flow and my fears of the next day . Into your hands I entrust my farm and my entire household. Send your Holy Spirit on my mission. A prayer which, Agnès assures me, does good by putting into words a heavy, sometimes distressing, daily commitment. A little of the Easter light that gently spreads into hearts.