Every Sunday, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click HERE for the readings.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends out 72 disciples. They were told to prepare the people in those towns for his coming. They were to say, “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.”
In the same passage, Jesus also says, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Often this prayer for laborers is used in reference to our need for more priests. And that is appropriate. We need to ask the Lord to send more priests into the vineyard for the harvest. But, looking at the scripture more closely, Jesus was sending a group of “disciples”. And everyone who believes in Jesus as the Messiah is one of his disciples.
So, what to make of this? He is sending all of us to announce the Kingdom: me as bishop, your pastor as priest, and you as baptized believer. Each of us, according to our own vocation (married, single, lay, consecrated religious or clergy) must do our part to prepare the way of the Lord. We are asked to say to those we meet: “The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.” We do that by how we speak of Jesus and by how we live our lives for love of him.
No one is exempt from being an evangelist.
And we need more of them.
Let’s pray for more priests. I was very happy to ordain eight new priests for our diocese a few weeks ago! That’s great! But let’s also pray for more disciples who are willing to talk about God’s Kingdom, its justice, its mercy, and its charity.
May we take up the call to announce the Kingdom of God. May we have the creativity, energy, and zeal to lead others to Jesus. All of us.
Have a blessed week everyone.