Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 5, 2022 - Tuesday in the 14th Week in Ordinary Time
[Hos 8:4-7, 11-13 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]
At the time Jesus spoke these words, Christianity was in its infancy. It took the faith and courage of a small group of disciples to gradually spread the Good News. The galvanizing event of Pentecost began to spread because of the lively presence of the Holy Spirit. There was no distinction between priest and laity that developed later on and is probably one of the greatest obstacles facing the Church now. As long as the laity see the work of evangelization to be the work of the clergy and religious and not the work of ALL the Church, the laborers will not be enough for the harvest.
Pope Paul VI sounded the alarm and gave a magnificent charge in his encyclical, Evangelii nuntiandi, when he pointed out that words are not enough to convince any longer. It is every day witness that makes the difference. Pope Francis has called ALL of us to be "missionary disciples." If the laborers seem to be few it is because the task has been entrusted only to a few!
In the recent reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, Pope Francis placed the "dicastery" (commission) on Evangelization at the top of the list as the most important. There is a startling statement in that document entitled PRAEDICATE EVANGELIUM, which says that "jurisdiction" (the canonical power to govern) comes from "canonical mission" and not from sacramental ordination!! In short, a lay person can be in charge of a major governing body in the institutional Church! Perhaps there is a chance, after all, that the historical division between clergy and laity which resulted in a power pyramid that placed the laity at the bottom is being reshaped so that the Holy Spirit can work through the laity and create more than enough laborers for the harvest? One can hope so! AMEN