“The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  How often we have heard these words and how often Catholics have appropriated these words by simply praying that God send them priests or nuns – not that God call them or their children to that life of course, but others.  It is good to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, but if we look closely at the opening words of the Gospel today, we see that “The Lord appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead of him.”

It is only Luke who tells us that not only did Jesus send the 12 apostles on mission during his ministry (9:1-6), but that he also sent out 70 (or 72) others as well.  So we’re not talking here of just twelve apostles, of only priests or bishops, traditionally seen as the successors of the apostles.  These 70 “others” were lay men and women, called to be true disciples. They were people like everyone here in this church today, called to discipleship and mission, labourers in God’s harvest.

Comforted and strengthened by God, described by Isaiah in our first reading as a mother comforting and nursing her child; and boasting only in the cross of the Lord Jesus, as Paul exhorts us in the second reading, we too are sent out like “lambs in the midst of wolves.”  Though the image is strong, it is perhaps not beyond what we sometimes experience in our own age or culture, so frequently indifferent or even hostile to religion in general, and to Christianity in particular. Whether it’s the aggression of ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq (or this week, in the attacks in Turkey and Bangladesh), or the secular version which denies God and makes its own gods out of pleasure, power, or possessions or money, there are many wolves to be contended with!

So, as we pray that God call and send others into his harvest, let us not neglect to pray for ourselves also.  Fr. Mychal Judge, the Franciscan priest and New York fire department chaplain who was among the first to die at the World Trade Center on 9/11, prayed in this way:  “Lord, take me where you want me to go, let me meet who you want me to meet, tell me what you want me to say, and keep me from getting in your way.”  With this prayer in his heart, Fr. Mychael ministered to so many in need: to alcoholics and drug addicts, to the homeless, to AIDS patients, to the gay and lesbian community, and to the police officers and firefighters, all of whom had a special place in his heart, through whom he met the Lord, just as they met the Lord through him.

None of us should think of ourselves as too old or too young, too sick or too busy, too whatever, to be called to work in God’s field, to bring in his harvest.  God calls us at every moment of our lives.  At every stage of life, in every time and place, the Lord has some work prepared just for us.  Many people discover their life’s work only after they retire from their jobs!  Perhaps it is only then that many of us have the freedom to do not just what will pay a decent salary and support our family, but what we really believe is important, what will best build up the Kingdom of God.  Indeed, God never ceases to call us to ministry, to service.  It happens in different ways at different times of life, but the call to discipleship and to mission is always there. In the words of a sign that hung for years on my mother’s fridge: “Be patient – God isn’t finished with me yet.” 

In Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John,  Jean Vanier reminds us that Jesus’ disciples are called to continue his mission:  

[the] mission . . .  to give life, eternal life,

and to reveal the face and heart of God to people. . . .

[the mission] to be a presence of God in the world

where there is an absence of God.

God’s works are [generally] not big miracles,

which some heroic disciples may be called to do,

but all those works of simple kindness and goodness

which give people life and lead them to trust in themselves and in God.”

 

Jesus challenges his disciples on mission to travel light: to carry no purse, bag or sandals.  What is that supposed to mean?  Might it mean we are to be recognized not by our designer clothes, fancy cars, or lavish lifestyles, but rather by the marks of Jesus, by compassion, forgiveness, and justice? 

Jesus also tells his disciples to go out two by two for support.  Then he tells them to eat and drink whatever is offered to them.  This may seem like an exhortation to be undemanding and grateful guests.  However, given the Jewish food laws, there is probably more at stake here.  Food, the type of food and the manner of its preparation, would have constituted a critical issue keeping Jewish followers of Jesus and Gentiles from sharing meals.  Here, Jesus is encouraging his disciples not to allow food to become an issue.  The message is clear: more important than dietary laws or personal preferences around food is the fellowship that would bring new believers in Jesus into the family of the faith.  Which leads us to ask a question dear to the heart of Pope Francis: are there laws or customs that we, as individuals or as a church, cling to in such a way that they become a barrier, stand in the way of others coming to Jesus?  Something to think about!!

Today’s readings also speak of the paradoxical coexistence of both suffering and of joy in the Christian life.  Like Jesus our Lord, disciples can expect no better treatment than Jesus received: and as we all know, “no good deed goes unpunished!”  Rejection seems to be part of ministry; and for many of us, the hardships and pain of division from family and friends which sometimes happen when we respond fully to Christ’s call to discipleship and mission  are even harder to bear than any external persecution. 

Yet, if we trust in God’s constant presence with us, we can experience inner joy, the joy expressed in today’s Psalm, in which we sing, “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy,” a joy founded on God’s presence with us and God’s awesome deeds among us, the great deeds of the Exodus and the submission of the demons to the 70 disciples, but also the deeds God works through each of us. 

May our joy be the joy of the third stonecutter in a beautiful story quoted by Fr. John Monbourquette in his book, “How to Discover Your Personal Mission.” (St. Paul University, Ottawa: Novalis, 2001, p. 16.)

Three stonecutters, seated around a table in a tavern,

were resting up from their day’s work and having a beer.

The proprietor of the tavern asked the first man what he did for a living.

The man answered, “I cut stones.”

The second man, of whom the proprietor asked the same question, replied,

“I’m cutting stones to build a wall.”

The third man did not even wait for the proprietor’s question,

so eager was he do declare with pride, “I am building a cathedral.”

 

May we rejoice today, and every day, that we are not only building a cathedral, we are ourselves Temples of God’s Spirit: living stones, called through baptism to discipleship and mission, cooperating with Christ to build the Kingdom of God.