Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 4, 2010 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Isaiah 66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20]At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest......" [Gospel of Luke]
The appointment of additional disciples to go and preach was an indication of the growth of Jesus' message. The Gospel of Luke makes a point of such things, especially if one adds the Acts of the Apostles as "volume two" of the gospel. When one considers that the Catholic church now numbers nearly a billion members world-wide, the increase is considerable! All the more vexing, therefore, is the shortage of full time workers in the ministry. The subject is complex and the shortage is not the same in all parts of the world. Church parishes in the U.S.A. are seeing priests from India, Africa and the Philippines become pastors. Jesus' request of the new disciples to ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers is intended to make it clear that the "harvest" is the Lord's work and those who work in it are the Lord's instruments. In missionary territories where there are very few ordained clergy, the church has had to be creative in training lay catechists to go out into the remote areas to bring the good news and even do some basic sacramental work like baptisms, marriages and funerals. In the U.S.A., although considerable progress has been made in the acceptance of Lay Ecclesial Ministers, the emphasis remains on ordained priests and permanent deacons. I know from my ministry of preaching retreats for priests and deacons that many of them are overworked because of the restrictions on ministry by non-ordained persons. Perhaps the "tide" will turn in terms of "vocations" to priesthood and religious life in the U.S.A. and the numbers come closer to those years between the end of World War II and the Second Vatican Council, (and some dioceses are seeing increases) but I hope the church will continue to see the preaching of the gospel as everyone's task, and not only the task of ordained persons. The "seventy-two others" can be an inspiration to us all. The Lord's harvest awaits the efforts of all those who believe. AMEN (To all my beloved congregation who live in the U.S.A., I wish a very happy 4th of July-Independence Day celebration. God bless America!)
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
84 ms
4
