The Laborers Are Few

 

 Luke 10:1-12

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Even at the beginning, there were not enough laborers to preach, heal and carry out the work initiated by Jesus. We are keenly feeling the effects of a deceasing number of priests and clergy as parishes merge or close. As Jesus said, we need to "pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send our laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10: 2). What else can we do to increase the number of laborers? 'The CALL comes from God, but we can help by suggesting to potential pastors, priests, brothers and sisters that they consider answering that call. Just knowing that someone regards them so highly might trigger further steps in the direction of such service to the community. If we don't act, we have no one to blame but ourselves for the lack of candidates for ministry.

Bro. Rene

Dear God help me to see what I can do to foster vocations to the priesthood, religious orders and other ministries in  our churches. Amen.