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.” Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them..."
Matthew 9:35-10:5 (NAB)
The verse "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few..." often gets used in reference to the need for more men and women to respond to God's call to the priesthood and religious life -- though each of us, no matter our vocation, are called to spread the Kingdom of God. When we pray for vocations, it is easy to rationalize that those prayers are for "some other people." However, such a prayer is not abstract, but concrete and personal. Immediately after telling the disciples to "ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest," the very next thing Jesus does is to commission those very same disciples to go out and minister to others. Jesus' heart is "moved with pity" for the suffering of the crowds, and so He sends us. He is inviting us to incarnate that mercy that moves His heart. When He instructs us to ask that more laborers be sent for the harvest, we are the very laborers He has chosen.
Newly canonized St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), whose feast day we celebrate today, expressed it well when she said (emphasis added)
“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that,
but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do.
I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength.
I used to believe that prayer changes things,
but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”
May the Lord bless you!
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