DAILY MEDITATION: “Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Liturgical day: Saturday of the First Week of Advent

Gospel text (Mt 9,35—10,1.6-8): 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 “Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

“Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Fr. Xavier PAGÉS i Castañer
(Barcelona, Spain)

Today, a week into our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, we see that one of the virtues, which we have to work on during Advent, is hope. Not in a passive way, like that of someone waiting for a train, but active hope, hope which gets us ready to give all that is needed for Jesus to be born again in our hearts.

But we must try not to settle only with what we expect, but —above all— try to discover what God expects from us. Like the twelve apostles, we are called to follow His ways too. Hopefully today we will hear the voice of the Lord who —through the prophet Isaiah— tells us: “This is the way, walk in it” (Is 30, 21, today's first reading). God hopes that we will give witness, each one in his own particular situation and circumstances that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 10, 7).

Today's Gospel tells of how Jesus, in front of that huge crowd, felt compassion and said “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Mt 9,37-38). He has always wanted to be able to count on us, He wants us, in all our diverse circumstances to become real apostles of the world in which we move and live. The mission for which God sent His son to the world depends on us for its continuation. We find in our present day a mass of desperate and disorientated souls, thirsting for the Good News of Salvation that Christ has brought us, and of which we are the messengers. It is a mission, which has been entrusted to every one of us. Conscious of our weaknesses and our failings, we get the support we need from constant prayer and are happy that in this way we can collaborate with the plan for redemption that Christ has revealed.

Source: evangeli.net