The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9:37-38

When Jesus saw the crowds who flocked to him for spiritual guidance, He was moved to pity by them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd. That is why He said to his disciples, “ask the harvest master to send out laborers for the harvest.”

The harvest Jesus is talking about has reference to all people of goodwill throughout the world who are in need of redemption. Jesus could not do it all by himself; that’s why He chose his disciples to follow him; that’s why He assembled the group of seventy two and sent them forth as his messengers to spread the good news.

The word we use to describe the process of spreading the good news of the gospel is, evangelization. There are different ways of doing this.

We engage in evangelization when we first try to live the gospel in our own lives; when we reflect on the Lord’s word and put it into practice. Thus evangelization begins with each individual. ‘Nemo dat quod non habet’ is a latin adage which means: “you cannot give what you do not have.” Each person needs to evangelize himself or herself first in order to share this good news with others.

There is no place like the home to share and to spread the good news. The Christian home is like a little church because it is where two or three or more people are gathered together to help and support one another. The home is the basic cell of society; and the Christian home is the basic cell of Christ’s church for that is where the gospel is first lived and experienced as a community.

There are so many other ways we can engage in evangelization; so many other avenues that are available for us to reach out and touch the lives of others with the good news of the gospel. What we are doing right now; reading this message and sharing it, is a form of evangelization.

In today’s gospel passage, the Lord urges us to “ask the harvest master to send out laborers for his harvest.” He is directing this message to all of us so that we might not stand idly by but take part in spreading his good news.

Father Hugh Duffy

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