When the Homily is about Immunology

Miners

My family, either as Slovak-Rusyn immigrants in Pennsylvania or as long time "hill folk" in Kentucky, have gained much of their sustenance from coal in one way or another. My Great Grandfather Sisak worked the coke ovens in south western Pennsylvania while my Grandfather Rowe was a miner in the hills of eastern Kentucky.

If you have followed the news over the last couple of years then you know well that miners (all over the world) seemed to have lately had a rough go of it. In reality, miners/coal workers have always had a rough life - whether it be from the harsh and dangerous environments they work in or the greed and abuses of the mining company. In the old days, the mining company all but owned you - in fact since they owned your land, your house, and the stores you could shop in you'd be hard pressed not to admit it was alomst akin to slavery. Apparently my Great Grandfather Sisak got himself beaten up more than once as he worked with a Union trying to better the lives of himself and his fellow coal workers.

Anyway, all of this to say that I offer heartfelt prayers for the miners who died last night and for their families in Eastern kentucky. They join a long list of men who work harder than most of us can imagine, in jobs that paid very little and ultimately demanded everything.

We're much too poor to escape
The weight of the earth
In tunnels and dust and fear
We will measure our worth
Here's our bones for the soil
Our blood for the land
Our souls for sweet Jesus
Our bodies be damned

-Terry Taylor from the song "Rocky Mountain Mines"