“The harvest is great but the laborers are few. “

—The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9:37-38

The harvest Jesus is talking about in Chapter 9 of St. Matthew’s gospel has reference to the Salvation of all people of goodwill throughout the world. Jesus could not do it alone. 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.

Another word we also use to describe this process of Spiritual Harvesting that Jesus talks about is, Evangelization. There are different ways of doing this.

Firstly, we engage in Spiritual Harvesting or 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 it begins with each individual. ‘Nemo dat quod non habet’ is a latin phrase which means: “you cannot give what you do not have.” Each person needs to evangelize himself or herself first in order to evangelize others.

Secondly, there is no place like home to evangelize. 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 where the gospel is first lived and experienced as community.

There are so many other ways we can engage in evangelization. Many other avenues such as ordained ministry, religious life, missionary work, charitable services, visiting the sick or those in prison, helping the homeless, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, are available all around us to reach out and touch the lives of others with the good news of the gospel.

What you are doing right now, reading this message and, possibly, sharing it on social media with others is a powerful form of Evangelization. Don’t neglect to do this. You’d be surprised how much it means to others.

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 actively take part in Spiritual Harvesting by spreading His good news.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy