“Life’s most urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” ― Martin Luther King, Jr.: (1929 – 1968: was an American Baptist minister and activist)
Gospel Text: (MT 9:32-38)
A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
The crowds were amazed and said,
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said,
“He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
The crowds were amazed and said,
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But the Pharisees said,
“He drives out demons by the prince of demons.”
Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”
Let’s reflect on two ways to accomplish this
Let’s reflect on two ways to accomplish this
Option #1…Consider this passage from Lumen Gentium no. 31 (the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1964 as part of Vatican II) and as quoted in “Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord” (a statement provided by the USCCB in 2005 as a resource for guiding the development of lay ministry): “Lay people are found in each and every one of the world’s occupations and callings and in the ordinary circumstances of social and family life which, as it were, form the context of their existence. There they are called by God to contribute to the sanctification of the world from within, like leaven, in the spirit of the Gospel, by fulfilling their own particular duties.”
How might we reverently live out the duties we find ourselves fulfilling in a proper way so as to be laborers with Christ?
Option #2…Pray with these words from St. Teresa of Avila: “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
In the spirit of today’s Psalm and Gospel, how might we use the possessions of our bodies and gifts to properly praise, reverence and serve God?
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