HARVESTERS ALL!

MT 9: 36-10:8

Who are the laborers the Lord Jesus is waiting for to help with the harvest? Every year we come across this message in a Mass or other celebration: “The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” And immediately our minds turn to priests and religious sisters and brothers. We remember to pray for them and for an increase in their ranks of unique vocations in the church.

But if we think of the “laborers” as priests and nuns, aren’t the words of Jesus more a prophecy than a plea for prayers? For when did there ever occur such an abundance of priestly, missionary and religious vocations that we could say we have enough and that the Lord has indeed answered our prayers? In our country of over 85 million Catholics, priests are a mere 1.17% of the church membership (if we at least have 10,000 priests serving right now!).

Does the Lord Jesus want to kill his priests, sisters and missionaries in the harvest with overwork, burnout and stress? I think the answer is clearly: No! Praying for more laborers, I believe, means that Jesus is trying to awaken the 98.83% of the 85 million Catholics here to notice, to get involved, to take up their mission, too. Jesus is not idealistic and certainly, not unrealistic to ask for prayers for a vocation that will not really be the majority in the church and in the world. I believe that he is asking every Catholic who is serious about his faith to seriously question his own sense of mission.

When we need prophets in society to proclaim the truth, do we just wonder when the bishops will speak or what the priests will say in the pulpit? When we see people being dragged away into the lures of other sects and religions, do we just hope that there was a nun who taught these people so they wouldn’t leave? When we see things in the church that needs fixing, do we just wait for volunteers among the retirees and the pious ladies to come and help?

Yes, that is what Catholics do! We fail to realize that when Jesus prayed for “laborers,” we are all the laborers he wished would sign up for our part in the mission. Imagine if Catholics who are nurses, teachers, vendors, drivers, lawyers, youth, grandparents, professionals, laborers will one day answer the call to bring the Gospel to homes, communities, workplaces, tiktok, Facebook and all the places we find ourselves! The harvest, however great, will have enough workers.

But as long as we say, “I am busy,” “I have no time,” “When I retire,” “I don’t know anything,” “I don’t care,” then we make the prayer of Jesus ineffective. The Lord is not praying for a “laborer” out there. He is waiting for you!

ourparishpriest 2023

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