My Seven-Minute-Homily July 7th 2013
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
The Book of the prophet Isaiah 66.10-14; Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians 6.14-18 and the Gospel of St. Luke 10.1-12,17-20
In today’s Gospel, “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go” With one appointment, the number of his workers increased from twelve to eighty-four, an increase sin-hundred percent. Even with that number of workers, Jesus still told them as he sent them out “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”
More than two thousand years have come and gone since that day, and the problem is still almost the same, a lot of works and not enough workers to handle it. We keep praying and praying for vocations but the shortage of workers is still very serious. What can we do? I agree with you completely that we should pray for vocations, but if someone questions you that he or she wants to be Jesus’ worker but h or she wants to know first what kind of business is Christ in?
The answer should be like that People or human salvation is Jesus business. He came down from heaven for people. He went all over the places for people. He did for people. He rose again from the dead for people. He called his disciples to care for people and for human salvation. If someone who wishes to be his workers like eighty four people at Jesus’ time should learn how to love and how to care for people. One of thousand reasons why people could not answer the call of God because they cannot care for people as Jesus did. Nobody loves his friend than the one who dies for his friends.
By human nature we love ourselves the most. We don’t want even to serve others. We don’t want to lose our life for others. Jesus devoted his entire life and ministry to helping people. I don‘t mean that the business of Christ is mainly a religious matter. His work is saving souls and safely ushering them into heaven. But he also fed the hungry. He also healed the sick. He befriended the lonely as well. He forgave the sinners. He defended the oppressed. These are his business and his entire ministry. These are people in need. Jesus helps people in both dimensions: material and spiritual.
By this answer we can see that one of many reasons why there are not enough vocations? There are so much selfishness and very little sacrifice and generosity to helping people. Actually the visible sign of selfishness is the question comes from the mouth of the workers: How much will I get paid? His disciples also questioned him “Teacher we abandoned everything to follow you what will we get?” Jesus answered “a hundred fold now on earth and in the future in heaven!” This is his promise to show that his worker never lost! This is also an invitation for more generosity to helping people. Actually the only financial guarantee that Jesus made to his workers was that they would have what they needed. He said “The laborer is worth his wage.” He meant that he did not intend to make money! "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." The followers of Jesus should be the same with their teacher. Nowadays, primary motivation of people is financial gain. It is why the Church could not get enough Vocations.
The followers of Jesus did not get paid in money sense but there is a sense in which to helping people is the best paid job in the world. Helping people gives you a sense of personal satisfaction. The workers of Jesus have the joy of knowing that they have risen above selfishness and done something useful with their life. It is why the Gospel says “The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” They were a happy group of people, and that kind of happiness cannot be bought at any price. They get paid! I would say!
So when whoever works with Jesus Christ, the product is people, the place is anywhere people are and the pay is a sense of spiritual joy and fulfillment. Actually it is very hard to increase number of Vocations or of workers for Christ. By human nature, people always stick with whatever they need for themselves first. We need more and more Bishops, priests and religious people live by example of simplicity and generosity like Pope Francis now so that people can see how the workers of Jesus look like and how happy they are with the call to helping people. Amen
Father Great Rice
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
The Book of the prophet Isaiah 66.10-14; Letter of St. Paul to the Galatians 6.14-18 and the Gospel of St. Luke 10.1-12,17-20
In today’s Gospel, “the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go” With one appointment, the number of his workers increased from twelve to eighty-four, an increase sin-hundred percent. Even with that number of workers, Jesus still told them as he sent them out “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”
More than two thousand years have come and gone since that day, and the problem is still almost the same, a lot of works and not enough workers to handle it. We keep praying and praying for vocations but the shortage of workers is still very serious. What can we do? I agree with you completely that we should pray for vocations, but if someone questions you that he or she wants to be Jesus’ worker but h or she wants to know first what kind of business is Christ in?
The answer should be like that People or human salvation is Jesus business. He came down from heaven for people. He went all over the places for people. He did for people. He rose again from the dead for people. He called his disciples to care for people and for human salvation. If someone who wishes to be his workers like eighty four people at Jesus’ time should learn how to love and how to care for people. One of thousand reasons why people could not answer the call of God because they cannot care for people as Jesus did. Nobody loves his friend than the one who dies for his friends.
By human nature we love ourselves the most. We don’t want even to serve others. We don’t want to lose our life for others. Jesus devoted his entire life and ministry to helping people. I don‘t mean that the business of Christ is mainly a religious matter. His work is saving souls and safely ushering them into heaven. But he also fed the hungry. He also healed the sick. He befriended the lonely as well. He forgave the sinners. He defended the oppressed. These are his business and his entire ministry. These are people in need. Jesus helps people in both dimensions: material and spiritual.
By this answer we can see that one of many reasons why there are not enough vocations? There are so much selfishness and very little sacrifice and generosity to helping people. Actually the visible sign of selfishness is the question comes from the mouth of the workers: How much will I get paid? His disciples also questioned him “Teacher we abandoned everything to follow you what will we get?” Jesus answered “a hundred fold now on earth and in the future in heaven!” This is his promise to show that his worker never lost! This is also an invitation for more generosity to helping people. Actually the only financial guarantee that Jesus made to his workers was that they would have what they needed. He said “The laborer is worth his wage.” He meant that he did not intend to make money! "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." The followers of Jesus should be the same with their teacher. Nowadays, primary motivation of people is financial gain. It is why the Church could not get enough Vocations.
The followers of Jesus did not get paid in money sense but there is a sense in which to helping people is the best paid job in the world. Helping people gives you a sense of personal satisfaction. The workers of Jesus have the joy of knowing that they have risen above selfishness and done something useful with their life. It is why the Gospel says “The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” They were a happy group of people, and that kind of happiness cannot be bought at any price. They get paid! I would say!
So when whoever works with Jesus Christ, the product is people, the place is anywhere people are and the pay is a sense of spiritual joy and fulfillment. Actually it is very hard to increase number of Vocations or of workers for Christ. By human nature, people always stick with whatever they need for themselves first. We need more and more Bishops, priests and religious people live by example of simplicity and generosity like Pope Francis now so that people can see how the workers of Jesus look like and how happy they are with the call to helping people. Amen
Father Great Rice