The Harvest is Plentiful

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting. And he said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to do his harvesting” (Luke 10:1-2).

Our Lord talks about the urgent need for new apostles to re-evangelize the world.

Among the crowds that followed Our Lord, there was a large number of His disciples (cf. Mark 2:15). These included many who had accompanied Him from the time of the baptism of John.

The Acts of the Apostles gives further news about some of these people, particularly Joseph called Barsabbas, and Matthias (cf. Acts 1:21-26). Christ appeared to two of these disciples, Cleopas and his companion, on the road to Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35).

None of these disciples were called to be one of the original twelve apostles, but they were nevertheless an important and highly dedicated group of followers. They formed the nucleus of the primitive Church after Pentecost.

Scripture tells us of the time when Our Lord appointed seventy-two of these to prepare the people for His arrival. “The harvest is plentiful,” He said,” but the laborers are few” (Luke 10:1-2).

In our day the apostolic panorama is equally immense—traditionally Christian countries which need to be re-evangelized, nations which have suffered many years of religious persecution, entire peoples thirsting for doctrine.

We need only look around us at our surroundings—our place of work or study, the means of communication—in order to grasp the dimensions of what needs to be done.

“The harvest is plentiful.” One of the keywords in the whole of Scripture is that word, “harvest.” It's a word that we can come back to again and again.

In some ways, the Church is all about the harvest. Our lives as followers of Christ have also to be all about the harvest. Like a good farmer, our mind has to be on the harvest.

In the Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles laici (“Lay Faithful of Christ”) from 1988, a wonderful document to read, it says: “Whole countries and nations where religion and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering a viable and working community of faith are now put to a hard test, and in some cases are even undergoing a radical transformation, as a result of a constant spreading of an indifference to religion, of secularism, and atheism.

“This particularly concerns countries and nations of the so-called First World, in which economic well-being and consumerism, even if coexistent with a tragic situation of poverty and misery, inspires and sustains a life lived ‘as if God did not exist.’ This indifference to religion and the practice of religion devoid of true meaning, in the face of life's very serious problems, are not less worrying and upsetting when compared with declared atheism.

“Sometimes the Christian faith [as well], while maintaining some of the externals of its tradition and rituals, tends to be separated from those moments of human existence which have the most significance, such as birth, suffering, and death.

“In such cases the questions and formidable enigmas posed by these situations, if remaining without responses, expose contemporary people to an inconsolable delusion or to the temptation of eliminating the truly humanizing dimension of life implicit in these problems” (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles laici, Point 34, December 30, 1988).

So now is the time to spread the divine seed and to harvest as well. There are places where it's difficult to sow the seed for lack of means. There are harvests which are being lost because there are not enough laborers. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

Early Christianity grew up in a world which seems very much like our own. It boasted abundant material means but suffered from great spiritual poverty.

The early Church had the necessary vigor to protect itself from paganizing influences. It was also vibrant enough to transform a worldly civilization from within.

The world today seems no more difficult to evangelize. At first sight, it may appear to be closed to Christ. Yet if we are firmly united to Our Lord as the first Christians were, we can be sure that the transformation will take place once again.

We could ask ourselves: How are we succeeding in our efforts to transform the people around us, the members of our family, our friends, our colleagues at work?

The world is in need of many things. But there is no doubt that it is in great need of apostles who are holy, cheerful, loyal to the Church, and eager to make Christ known.

The Lord is calling for us to work in His fields. “Pray, therefore,” we're told in The Way, “the Lord of the harvest, to send laborers into His harvest. Prayer is the most effective means of winning new apostles” (Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, Point 800).

Our apostolic zeal has to be shown first of all in a continuous prayer petition for new apostles. Prayer always comes first.

In The Forge, Point 906 it says: “That cry of the Son of God, lamenting that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few, is always relevant. How it tears at our heartstrings. That cry came from Christ's mouth for you to hear too. How have you responded to it up to now? Do you pray at least daily for that intention of his?”

St. Gregory the Great has commented saying: “It's indeed regrettable that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. There is no shortage of people to hear the Good News. What is missing are people to spread it” (Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 17,3).

Our Lord wants us now to join with His disciples in the work of evangelization. Before sending out His disciples into the world, their Master revealed them to the Father and His wonderful love for them.

“As the Father loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. … No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends. … I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit” (John 15:9-10, 15-16).

With this clear vision, we should go to all the corners of the earth “to reveal and communicate the love of God to all men and all peoples” (Vatican II, Decree, Ad gentes, Point 10, December 7, 1965).

The Christian will be an apostle insofar as he or she is a friend of God. This friendship with God needs to be a daily affair. This attitude will stand in marked contrast to the pervasive distrust and aggressiveness of our environment.

When those around us see that we are trustworthy, that we are ready to be of service, that we don't harbor resentment, that we don't speak ill of anyone. … They should find that Christians are different because we follow Christ.

We may have different opinions one from another, but we don't attack other people personally. When no one is excluded from our apostolate and assistance, then we are giving true testimony to Christ.

Alongside our charity, we need to also show the world our joy. This is the joy the Lord promised us at the Last Supper (cf. John 16:22). It springs from our effort to put aside personal worries and enter into friendship with God.

Joy is essential to the apostolate. No one will be attracted by a sad and negative critic or a gloomy complainer.

The apostolic fruitfulness of the first Christians was the result, in good part, of their joy at being the heralds of the good news. They were the messengers of the One who had brought salvation to the world.

They shone forth as a happy people in the middle of a world in anguish. Their happiness spread abroad their faith in Christ. It was a special gift that they shared in their families and among their friends at every moment, because it was their very reason for living.

Christian joy has a solid foundation in the reality of divine filiation. This is the recognition that one is a son or daughter of God at all times.

Chesterton suggests, “It is joy not because we are in the right place, but because we are in the wrong place” (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy).

One writer says, “We were lost, but Someone has found us and is leading us home. It is joy not because we are alright—we are not—but because Someone can put us right. Christian joy comes from facing up to the one really sad fact of life, which is sin; and countering it with a joyful fact that is even more real and stronger than sin: God's love and mercy” (Cormac Burke, Authority and Freedom in the Church).

Let us ask ourselves whether we reflect Christian joy in our ordinary life. You have so many reasons for being happy. The wonder of our divine filiation, the comfort of divine mercy, the knowledge that we are on the road to heaven, the joy of being able to receive communion so often.

In The Forge, Point 858, St. Josemaría says, “The first step towards bringing others to the ways of Christ is for them to see you happy and serene, sure in your advance towards God.”

In combination with the joy and charity of Christ, we have to be able to express the truths of the faith which will make others happy. [The same] spiritual writer says, “Only convinced Christians have any chance of convincing others. Half-convinced Christians won't even half-convince anybody. They won't convince at all” (Ibid.).

We're told by St. Paul that “charity is patient” (1 Cor. 13:4). The virtue of patience is an indispensable support then for charity (cf. St. Cyprian, About the good of patience).

Our apostolate is a clear manifestation of charity, and patience here is essential. Often, we have to wait in the harvest for the good seed to grow. Many great things happen with time, in souls, in organizations, in society.

Our Lord wants us to sow His seed with a great peace of mind. We can remember that He has prepared the field for the harvest beforehand.

We can be mindful of the rhythm of the seasons. In our sowing, we have to wait for the right time and place. And those we discover in our prayer: the right thing to say to our friend, that word that we whisper into the ear of our wavering friend—at the right time, at the right moment.

We shouldn't give in to discouragement. We place our hope in the Lord. He will make a tiny shoot grow into a fine ear of wheat. He will sow the seeds.

Our Lord gives us many examples of how to live patience. He was well aware that the crowds did not grasp the full import of His teaching: “Seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matt. 13:13).

Nonetheless, Our Lord shows a tireless devotion to these same people. He travels through the length and breadth of Palestine.

It is clear that even the Twelve Apostles had their limitations. The Lord tells them on the eve of His Passion, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12).

The Lord was understanding towards His disciples. He had patience with their defects and their less-than-perfect ways. He did not give up on them. In the years to come, those same people would be pillars of the Church.

There was a man once in contact with Opus Dei for twenty years. And finally, after twenty years, he saw his vocation as a supernumerary member of Opus Dei.

Then he happened to go to Rome, and he met St. Josemaría. And he said to him, “Father, I want to apologize for taking so long to see my vocation. But I hope you are happy now that I have finally seen and followed my vocation.”

St. Josemaría said, “Yes, my son, I'm very happy that you have found your vocation. But I'm also much happier that there has been a son of mine who has been after you for the past twenty years.”

This was what warmed the cockles of the heart of St. Josemaría: that perseverance, that persistence, that not giving up; that working of the harvest, no matter what it took.

Patience and constancy are necessary for any work of spiritual formation, whether they're aimed at ourselves or others.

Patience is closely allied to the virtue of humility. The patient person accepts the workings of God's providence and operates within that general framework. He recognizes his own defects and is not dismayed by the defects of others.

One writer says, “A Christian who practices the manly virtue of patience will not become disconcerted by the fact that most people are indifferent to the things of God. The truth remains that there are a good many people who have deep longings to encounter God.

“Their inner desire may be compared to a wine cellar in which a very good wine is locked away. It so happens that souls are like arable land. The farmer must accommodate himself to the seasons and the soil. Hasn't the Master likened the kingdom of God to a householder who went out to hire workers for his vineyard? (cf. Matt 20:1-7)” (Justo Luis Rodriguez Sánchez de Alva, The Gospel of Saint John).

Our Lord has been incredibly patient with us. So we also have to exercise that patience towards others in the apostolate.

St. Paul says, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7).

If we live the virtue of patience, we will be faithful in working the harvest.

There's a moment in Scripture when John approaches Jesus to report that the apostles have seen a man “casting out demons in the name of Jesus.” Since he doesn't belong to the Master’s circle, the apostles try to stop him. But Our Lord corrects John by saying, “You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me” (Mark 9:38-41).

Our Lord corrects the exclusive mentality of His disciples. He opens their eyes to an apostolate of wide-ranging dimensions.

Christians should not have a ‘one-party mentality’ which would lead them to reject legitimate diversity in apostolic activities. All that matters is unity in the essentials, in that which forms the foundation of the Church.

Pope John Paul II affirmed that through Baptism, all Christians have a right of association. He has listed the fundamental criteria for determining whether a particular association is in union with the Church (John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles laici, Point 30, December 30, 1988).

Such associations are to be evaluated, first of all, he said, according to “the primacy given to the call of every Christian to holiness,” which is the best expression of the fullness of Christian life. It is in this regard that each association of this kind should act as “an instrument leading to holiness.”

Pope St. John Paul also emphasized certain criteria relating to the apostolate: “The responsibility of professing the Catholic faith, embracing and proclaiming the truth about Christ, the Church, and humanity, in obedience to the Church's Magisterium as the Church interprets it. For this reason, every association of lay faithful must be a forum where the faith is proclaimed as well as taught in its total content.”

Every Christian has a part to play in the Church's apostolic work. The harvest has to concern each one of us. The Lord wants us to be apostles in the factory, in the office, in the home, in the university.

As a consequence of their faith, Christians have to have a filial unity with the Holy Father and the bishops. Catholic associations should be loyal to the teachings of the Church and follow the directions that come from the hierarchy.

[St. John Paul II] has said, “Church communion demands both an acknowledgment of a legitimate plurality of forms in the associations of the lay faithful in the Church and at the same time, a willingness to cooperate in working together.”

If we are full-time Christians, then we will have to take our faith into the workplace. We will want to light up our conduct by becoming familiar with the social doctrine of the Church. “Associations of the lay faithful should become fruitful outlets for participation and solidarity in bringing about conditions that are more just and loving within society.”

If we have the heart of Christ, it's really easy for us to accept the apostolic activities of others. This diversity in unity will give us a cause for rejoicing. The absolutely essential thing is that Christ be known and loved.

I heard a priest once talking about different organizations in the Church, some of which some people might have had a bit of criticism or even disdain for. This holy missionary priest said, ‘You know, these organizations in the Church, they might not be your cup of tea, but they're God's tea.’

We're called to have that breadth of vision for all of God's tea, for all the different ways and pathways that there are for reaching the summit of holiness to which each of us is called. The Good News has to reach every corner of the earth.

Concern for the harvest leads us to be concerned for the souls immediately around us, but also for every last soul on the planet.

The Church has always been immensely outward-looking. She's sent people to the far corners of the planet to proclaim the kingdom of God.

That has to be part of our concern as well. The greatness of the harvest and every part of it must be present on our radar screen. For this work Our Lord counts on everyone to contribute: men and women, priests and laity, young and old, widowers, married people, members of religious orders, associations inspired to do the work of the Holy Spirit. No Christian is exempt.

Every Christian is called to extend the kingdom of Christ. Every social circumstance is a good opportunity for bringing this about.

The Second Vatican Council says, “Wherever God opens a door for the word in order to declare the mystery of Christ, then the living God and he whom he has sent for the salvation of all, Jesus Christ, are confidently and perseveringly proclaimed to all men” (Vatican II, Decree, Ad gentes, Point 13, December 7, 1965).

In the face of cowardliness, or laziness, or excuses, you have to keep in mind that many people depend on our word and example if they are to receive the grace to follow Christ more closely.

We can never stop doing apostolate for the people whom God has placed by our side. Once a friend, always a friend.

That means we should have an ever-expanding list of friends that we keep in contact with. Nowadays, through email and WhatsApp and texting and all sorts of things, it's easy to keep in contact with an awful lot of people, remembering their birthdays, remembering them at Christmas and other moments. We never cross anybody off our list.

The means we use may differ, but the end is always the same. There are many, many different ways for people to be drawn to the Lord. And we have to respect that.

St. Paul VI, in a document called the Evangelii nuntiandi (“The Announcing of the Gospel”), says, “Let us maintain, therefore, our fervor of spirit. Let us preserve the sweet and heartfelt joy of evangelizing, even when we have to sow in tears.”

We cannot give in to thinking that adverse circumstances are an obstacle to the apostolate. Difficulties can serve as a means for extending Christ's teaching. This was shown by the first Christians and by so many others who have suffered for the faith.

St. Paul wrote to the Philippians from his prison cell: “Most of the brethren have been made confident in the Lord because of my imprisonment, and are much more bold to speak the Word of God without fear.”

Even though some had been preaching out of envy, with a lack of right intention, the Apostle exclaimed: “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that, I rejoice. Yes, and I shall rejoice” (Phil. 1:14-18).

Our most important goal is that we draw closer to Christ from day to day. Our Lord invites everyone to this work.

The Church has never wanted to force her children into one specific spirituality. On the contrary, she has always valued the great variety of spiritual paths and apostolates available to her children.

We could ask Our Lady, Queen of Apostles, that she might help us more and more to keep our mind focused on the harvest, and to always be conscious of the fact that the laborers are few.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

RK