Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 11, 2023 - Tuesday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 32:23-33 and Matt 9:32-38]"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest." [Matthew]
JULY 11 ST. BENEDICT, abbot
One of the most important accomplishments of the Second Vatican Council was its emphasis on the sacrament of baptism and the universal call to holiness. This, in turn, means there is a call to each and every one of us to be, as Pope Francis has put it, "missionary disciples." However, in the past a rather narrow conception of what is meant by "vocation" made it difficult for the Church to see vocation as something much broader than the choice of priesthood or religious life or marriage. The expansion of the understanding of vocation as a fundamental expression of our baptismal identity has taken time. The restoration of the Permanent Diaconate was, perhaps, the most prominent sign of a change. But the subsequent establishment of such ministries as Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, Lectors, Catechists, etc. are also examples. These ministries, however, take place more in a liturgical context. The great task of evangelization, eloquently stated in Pope St. Paul VI's encyclical, Evangelii nuntiandi, still stayed for a long time within the more narrow definition. This may have been due to some unease that Catholics felt about the word "evangelize,' associating it with our Protestant brothers and sisters. When I was a pastor in San Antonio, I suggested to parish council members that they follow the example of some Protestant missionaries and go door to door to invite people to come to church, the response was, "Oh no, Father, that's what the Protestants do!" My response was that Catholics can do it, too!!
If we pray to the "Master of the harvest" to send out more laborers to the abundant fields, we had better be ready to look in the mirror and ask what we can do besides praying! AMEN
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