Harvest Mass and Supper at Houlton Potato Farm on August 19

HOULTON---A Harvest Mass and Supper will be held at Fitzpatrick & Peabody Farms, located on 529 North Street in Houlton, on Saturday, August 19. The Mass will begin at 4 p.m. at the potato house, followed by a potluck supper. If you will be attending and would like to bring something for the supper, call St. Mary of the Visitation Parish at 207-532-2871 or sign up on the sheets located at St. Mary of the Visitation Church on 112 Military Street in Houlton.

During the Mass, participants will join in praying for God's blessing upon the harvest season for farmers. The Mass will be celebrated by Fr. Kevin Martin, pastor of St. Mary of the Visitation Parish as well as St. Agnes Parish in Island Falls.

The celebration also fittingly comes during the week of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15). Early celebrations of the Assumption coincided with late summer harvest festivals, honoring Mary as the “first fruit” harvested from God’s creation at the same time of year that the first fruits of the field were being harvested. It is a joyful day for Catholics as the Assumption celebrates what each of us hopes and expects to happen: the Lord of the harvest will one day, in the fullness of time, raise our earthly bodies from the ground and join them to our souls in the kingdom of Heaven for all eternity.