Monthly Archives: September 2010

Send Laborers for the Harvest

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Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Job 19:21-27
Luke 10:1-12

We’re all aware of the current crisis in vocations to the priesthood and so today’s gospel is another reminder that we must pray – “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest”.

But the work is hard. It involves the cross which must be taken up and carried every day. It means rejection at times and giving up a lot of things, including one’s very self. Maybe that’s why so many do not heed Christ’s call: “Follow me”.

But by the same token the rewards are great: “No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age and in the age to come, eternal life”. (Mk 10: 29)

Still, this takes faith. And in our first reading we hear of Job who had everything in this life and suddenly lost it all and even then his faith did not falter. His so-called friends goaded him and said he must have committed some terrible sin to have received such a punishment. Yet Job persisted in his innocence and even excused this judgment: “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” (Job 2: 10)

In fact, Job goes on and gives us this magnificent expression of trust when he says: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth and in my own flesh I shall see my God.” That’s the hope of every Christian.

So, whether we are priest or layperson, we must never forget that we are all sinners redeemed by Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Though unworthy, we beg the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his vineyard so that all creation may rightly give God praise and thanksgiving for his many gifts.

Read more about a Passionist vocation.

Damian Towey, CP is a member of the community at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center, North Palm Beach, Florida

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Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael

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Revelation 12:7-12a
John 1: 47-51

What’s in a name? Well, in the case of the Archangels whom we remember on this feast, ‘God’ is in their names. Like so many of the names in the pages of the Bible, such as the names of the various patriarchs and even Jesus, the origin or mission of the person is often summed up in this way.

In the biblical stories associated with these three messengers of God, we learn how God acts on our behalf through them.  God is our creator, and Michael’s name (Who is like God?) reminds us that we should never forget our humble origins from the dust of the earth. We are indeed special because we are fashioned in the image of God. But making ourselves the center of our world displaces God who is the source of all life and calls us to an eternal destiny which God alone can bring about.

Raphael (God heals) brings much goodness to a pious family in their suffering. Celebrating Raphael today reminds us that among the many remedies we seek for ourselves against the illness and anxiety of this life, we should not overlook the healing of spirit which the Lord offers all who ask.

The mission of Gabriel (God is my strength) to announce to Mary that she was chosen to be Mother of God may be the more familiar story of all three. The first phrase of the Angelus said around the world several times through the day recalls how Gabriel brought news that a glorious time of renewal and holiness was coming into the world through the birth of Mary’s child.

God continues to heal and announce good news of salvation to all those who are humble enough to accept their place in God’s creation.

Fr. Paul Zilonka, C.P. is formation director of the Passionist community at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois

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What It Takes to Follow Jesus

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Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Job 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23
Luke 9:51-56

Our gospel reading today begins with St Luke describing Jesus as “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem”.  He is emphasizing how important this is to Jesus, that he would not be turned aside or let anything or anyone get in his way.  Not the opposition of the scribes or Pharisees, not the misunderstandings of his own apostles.

This was his life’s mission, the focus of all this words and actions.  Earlier Luke described him as saying, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am straightened until it is accomplished”.  What was Jerusalem?  It was where Jesus would show God’s love powerfully for each of us, for Jerusalem was to be the place of his passion and death.

The gospel described how he was rejected by the Samaritan village, but he would not delay.  He would simply continue to another village that would receive Him.  If they rejected his hand of friendship and his teaching, he would go to those who would accept it.

We learn something of what he expects of those who would follow him.

Throughout his public life people had been coming up to him and asking how they could follow him completely. He seemed to be deliberately turning them away when he asked if they knew how all embracing and difficult that would be.  Can you put the kingdom of God first in your life, he asked.

He wasn’t trying to frighten them off, but was simply reminding them that it would not be easy.  No real commitment is easy in our lives.  Whether we speak about the commitment a young man and woman make to each other on their wedding day, a young person to a medical school, or a young man to the priesthood.   A price must be paid, and reflection early on will prevent someone later turning away saying “I didn’t know I was going to be like this”.

Jesus was simply saying that there would be challenges in all our lives coming from every direction, but the commitment to him would always have to be first.  Even when we wonder where God is, forget his overwhelming love, and live with so many questions, the commitment to him must remain.

In the first reading today we are reminded of Job.  No person seemed to suffer as much as he did.  Hear again his words: “Why did I not perish at birth or come from the womb and die?  Then I would be at peace.  Why do people bother and hurt me?”

But when Job cried out to the Lord, he continued to listen carefully.  He would never turn his back on God; he knew the powerful caring love he could always count on.

Jesus resolutely determined to go to Jerusalem.  He invites us to be as determined to walk with him.

Fr. Bernard McEachern, CP, is the Director of Passionist Missionaries, Canada, stationed in Toronto.

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