It’s Time for Harvest! A Reflection
for 10/18/19:
In the
Gospel of Luke, Jesus appointed seventy other disciples and sent them ahead of
him in pairs. These new disciples
traveled to every town and place to inform people that Jesus was coming. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few, therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
into his harvest. Go on your way!”
Jesus didn’t
paint a pretty picture saying “See, I am sending you out like lambs into the
midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag,
no sandals; and greet no one on the road.”
However, in addition to these instructions Jesus made one thing clear,
not going wasn’t an option.
“The harvest
is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
This is so true. The work we all
have been asked to do, spreading the Gospel, has the unending potential to
reach so many; in our cities, our schools, our parishes and so on. This work brings God’s message to those who
struggle with employment, hunger, sickness, abandonment yet, more often than
not, it is the same small number of people who are trying to accomplish all
these things for so many. Look around at
our schools and parishes where volunteers are often asked for to service a
multitude of projects yet the same faces are the ones that appear.
Everything
we do is about bringing the Kingdom of goodness to those who have the least and
who deserve much better. It is about being
the reflection of Christ through us to others.
Think of the overall number of members within our parish alone and what
if, just what if each person did one thing for the Harvest? Even Jesus Himself only appointed seventy and
just look at the multitude that was able to reach. This life is not meant for us alone, this
Christianity…this incredible and everlasting gift from God is not meant for us
to hold all to ourselves. Today’s Gospel
reading implores us to get out into the community, to break bread with our
neighbors, to bring healing to the sick, and to work for peace, love and
compassion for all.
Do not be
foolish as to wait for someone else to work the Lord’s harvest for you.
Mr.
Swann/Principal
Our Lady of
Mount Carmel