Gospel of Luke, chapter 10:2

It takes a village, they say, to raise a child. The same is true when it comes to raising a Christian.

No Christian, just like no child, is an island; all are part of the a larger community of believers.

In today’s gospel, Jesus sends out the rest of His followers to spread the Good News of the Gospel to every town and country; to every member of the human race because, as he says, “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.”

The harvest Jesus is talking about is the harvest of all of humanity, eagerly awaiting his message, and we, his followers, are the privileged bearers of His good news to our fellow man.

What Jesus stated in today’s gospel, two thousand years ago, is just as relevant today as it was back then.

The world population is approximately 7.4 billion. The number of people professing to be Christian in the world is approximately 2.2 billion; that is, 29.7 percent of the world’s people.

Jesus has entrusted His mission to us to be bearers of the Good News of the Gospel to this huge, human population. How can we do this? It seems impossible, doesn’t it? But, God does not make impossible demands on us for He has assured us that with Him ” all things are possible.” ( Matthew 10: 26 ) This mission possible of Christ is called: Evangelization for it belongs to every Christian to do what he or she can do to bring Christ to others. The Second Vatican Council reemphasized the role of the lay person in bringing Christ to others. The critical issue for you to consider now is: how do you do this? There are two ways, I submit, whereby you can become a true Evangelizer.

Firstly, You need to evangelize yourself; that is, you need to be more conformed to Christ, to follow His example in your own life and to mediate it, by osmosis, to others.

Isn’t this what takes place in a good Christian family? Parents are the role models to their children who pick up the beliefs and practices of those they trust and admire. Thus it is important to recognize that if we are not first conformed to Christ by our beliefs and practices, then we cannot influence others in a wholesome Christian way. You cannot give what you don’t have, and if you don’t have the spirit of Christ in you, you cannot impart it to others.

Secondly, every Christian needs to be an instrument of evangelization to others by uplifting and inspiring them by the example of their own lives. Good example is the best kind of sermon because it is based on the active power of love demonstrated by actions. I am reminded of a wonderful line from a poem by Gerald Manly Hopkins regarding our Christian connectedness with one another:

“Christ plays in ten thousand places,
lovely in eyes and lovely in limbs not his,
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.”

This beautiful insight by Hopkins is as good a description of the Incarnation as I have ever read. The Son of God became Man so that He could live and act as one of us. He has shown us the Way. But, He has entrusted His work to us. He has no other eyes, ears, hands, feet, mind, or heart but ours to spread the good news and miracles of grace.

When Jesus entrusted to all His followers, as He does in today’s gospel, the privilege of continuing His work of love for all mankind, remember that He is entrusting this work to you in your home, in your community, and in your world for he needs your eyes, your feet, your hands, your mind, and your heart to bring his love to others.

Fr. Hugh Duffy

NOTE: A guest blog by Fr. Duffy entitled, “Inspiring Hope, and his post “Hope Springs Eternal” will be published this Sunday, July 10th at 4 p.m. CDT at www.blog.beckywrightsongs.com  We urge our readers to subscribe to the blog now so you won’t miss it, and future blogs. (Plus subscribers get a free music download of Becky Wright’s album, “Before the Throne: Worship & Hymns”, recorded in Nashville.)