“The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest.”

Matthew 9:32-38
Stories of blindness, deafness and dumbness in the Gospel always have a deeper meaning. Far more serious than physical blindness, deafness and dumbness are being spiritually blind, deaf and dumb. We are blind because we cannot see or do not want to see God at work in Jesus; we are deaf because we do not hear or do not want to understand what Jesus says. And we are also dumb because we cannot speak the words of life that Jesus gives to us to share with others.
Let us pray today to be able to see clearly, to understand what God says to us and to be able to share it with others.
Jesus is teaching in synagogues; he is proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom; and he is healing all kinds of diseases and sickness. He shows deep compassion for the needs of the people. He sees them harassed and dejected, wandering and aimless like sheep without a guiding shepherd - a familiar image in the Old Testament (cf. Ezekiel 34). Then, looking at his disciples, he says, “The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest.” Jesus cannot do it all on his own. In fact, he will hardly step outside the boundaries of Palestine. He needs many helpers. He needs more young people with the COURAGE to answer his call to serve in the Church. Where are you, young men and women?
Today, the situation has not changed. The harvest is as big as ever; people are as lost and rudderless as they have ever been in spite of the great strides in knowledge we have made. Where are the laborers? They are not just the bishops, priests, religious brothers and sisters. That is a very narrow concept of laborers. Every single baptized person is called, in some way, to be a harvester, to help people find and experience the truth and love that God gives in Jesus. Every single person, in that sense and it is a very real sense, has a vocation, a call to serve and to build the Kingdom.
What and where and with whom is your vocation?