Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C *Alternate* Second Reading

They’re not like peaches or squash.
Plumpness isn’t for them.  They like
being lean, as if for the narrow
path.  The beans themselves sit
quietly inside their green pods.

I have thought sometimes that
something — I can’t name it —
watches as I walk the narrow
rows, accepting the gift of
their lives to assist mine.

I know what you think:  this is
foolishness.  They’re only vegetables.
Even the blossoms with which they
begin are small and pale, hardly
significant.  Our hands, our minds, our
feet hold more intelligence.  With
this I have no quarrel.

But, what about virtue?

The words of Mary Oliver.