14th Sunday - Missionary Disciples

Our Lord sent out seventy-two ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place Our Lord intended to visit. Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the Master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Most farmers just finished or about to finish the wheat harvest. Some farmers were reliant on custom cutters to cut their wheat and with all the rain, they went further north where it was dry and had to come back to finish the job. The laborers were few for a time, but in the end the Lord provided an abundant harvest and the workers completed their task.

It’s a lot of work to till the soil, plant seeds, much money and labor are spent and then farmers must rely on good weather. Rain to make it grow. Hail can damage crops. A drought can cause a poor harvest. Farmers have to trust in God’s divine providence, that He will provide all this is needed.

The image that Jesus uses of a harvest and workers remind us harvesters are missionaries sent out into the world to proclaim the truth. The missionary harvesters need to understand how to reap a harvest of those ripe and ready to hear the Gospel. When we think of spreading the Gospel, we think of priests, who preach and teach Jesus to others.

Priests are called by Jesus to be His close companions. They are called to give their life to Jesus, to offer themselves as a sacrifice for the people, and as shepherds guide and lead the flock. Priests are harvesters and after the Lord prepared their hearts through tilling their soul with trials, and pouring waters of grace to help them sprout into a disciple, they will then bear the fruit of virtue, so they too can scatter the seeds of faith to others. But, the priest can’t do it alone, everyone is a missionary disciple through baptism.

At baptism every Christian becomes a disciple of Jesus with the mission to make more disciples teaching all about Our Lord and what He commanded us. Jesus told His disciples, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.”

Some missionaries go to foreign countries to tell others about Jesus, who never heard about Him, but have the opportunity to know and love Him. Missionaries are also in our own country, such as FOCUS missionaries who seek out young college students starving for truth and starving for love. FOCUS Missionaries learned how to gather the harvest with the love of Jesus Christ. They first win students for Jesus by meeting the students where they are and share the Good News of Christ to them. They help them develop a relationship with Jesus. They tell college students how God loves them and how their life can be filled with joy and peace if they turn their lives over to Christ.

They introduce them to the Mass, Confession, Bible study and Eucharistic Adoration, and help them put Jesus first and in the center of their daily life, so they too can eventually go out and make disciples. They also help non-Catholics to become Catholic.

The greatest number of people in the Little River area are un-churched (don’t go to church). Others have never belonged to a church. Many locally are starving for the truth. They hunger to have something more than worldly things, because they are hungering for Jesus, but don’t know it. However, every Catholic is a disciple and every Catholic is a missionary. Each one of us has the opportunity of first seeking out the un-churched, the unbaptized, those starving for love and those who do not know Jesus.

The way to evangelize our friends and neighbors is easy. First, just be their friends, then introduce Jesus to them, by telling them about your own personal relationship with Our Lord. Teach them to begin praying to Jesus and so have a relationship with Him, then help them to make Jesus the center of their lives.

What makes a good disciple? We turn to Mary, who always did God’s will in Her life. For us, it is also God’s will to avoid sin, which Mary did perfectly. It is God’s will for us to grow in holiness. Mary was the holiest human being. She was holier then all the angels and saints combined.

A disciple of Jesus first sits, listens and adores Our Lord, the teacher. Mary adored Jesus in Her womb. When He was born, Mary was the first to adore the face of Jesus. Mary was the first to pray to Jesus, listen to Him, which She did every day for the first 30 years of His life because She lived with Him. Mary knew Sacred Scripture and pondered it with Her Heart. She pondered every word and action of Jesus.

Therefore, for one to be a disciple of Jesus one must sit at His feet in Eucharistic Adoration. Bishop Fulton Sheen told priests and seminarians they should daily make a Holy Hour with Jesus. To be a disciple we adore the face of Jesus with eyes of faith in the Eucharist, receive in Holy Communion as often as possible.

A good disciple of Jesus ponders and meditates on Sacred Scripture reading the bible every day. One who is ignorant of Scripture is ignorant of Christ. A good disciple of Jesus will pray Hail Marys with their lips and meditate on the mysteries of the life of Jesus praying the Rosary often and so think about and ponder Jesus with Mary’s eyes and Heart.

But we can’t be perfect like Mary. We all fall short. The saints give us hope, because they were sinners and had faults. The apostles were jealous of each other and wanted to be better than the others. Peter denied Jesus three times. St. Jerome had angry outbursts all his life, but he did lots of penance. St. Augustine caroused with women and even fathered a child out of wedlock. St. Francis of Assisi was given into revelry before his conversion. St. Monica had a drinking problem when she was young. But all of saints used their weaknesses to help them grow in holiness and humility. The disciple will take up his cross daily striving for virtue.

Today, let us turn to missionary saints, especially St. Francis Xavier, who baptized 30,000. St. Junipero Serra baptized 6,000 Indians. St. Peter Claver baptized 300,000 in Columbia. St. Vincent Ferrer converted 20,000 Jews and thousands of Muslims. St. Patrick converted over 100,000 from false Irish religions. St. Francis de Sales converted thousands, who had fallen away from the faith.

And let us ask the Queen of all disciples, the Virgin Mary, the first and greatest Disciple to help us bring many to Jesus and so help them obtain heaven.