…I have Called You…

What is the harvest to which Jesus was referring? Who is he asking to go into the harvest? What does it mean for us today? Am I listening to God’s call in my life? 

The harvest is our world – the call is for all of us who are baptised – to be the labourers. So, what is happening in our world? What are the ‘signs of the times’ today? Are we afraid like the apostles were at the first Pentecost and will we listen and be filled with the Holy Spirit and go forth with trust in God as they did? 

The harvest is our world which continues to be characterised by tragedy, war, destruction, inequity, poverty and so much global as well as local distress. Jesus is telling us to go into this harvest – Ron Rolheiser, an Oblate priest and theologian offers some wisdom…‘we are asked by our Christian faith to have a genuine love for the world…the world isn’t our enemy.’ This can be difficult to understand sometimes when we can face ridicule for our beliefs but it is the place of the harvest, the place of conversion of our heart, of all hearts towards God. It is important to remember that our world is also characterised by people of goodwill and great generosity of spirit and belief in others. 

Our Christian faith expressed in this weekend’s Gospel calls us into the harvest – to welcome the stranger, the feed the orphans and the widows - the scriptural code for who at any given time are the 3 most vulnerable groups in society. We are called to reach out to the poor, to break through the boundaries as Jesus shows us countless times in the Gospels - to be the hope for the ‘harassed and dejected’ in the crowd. It is challenging to welcome the stranger, to step beyond our comfort zone but Jesus ‘not only makes a preferential option for the poor, but God is in the poor. How we treat the poor is how we treat God’ (Rolheiser and Pope Francis). 

Jesus tells us that we will be judged based on how we treated the most vulnerable among us (Matthew’s Gospel). We are called to feed the hungry – an uncompromising and eminently personal call (Rolheiser). We are called to be eminently human in our response – ‘to be human is to listen to the rest of the world with a tender heart, and to learn to live with our arms open and our souls seared with a sense of responsibility for everything that is. (Joan Chittister) 

Maybe we can respond to the call of the Pastoral Care Team in our Parish to assist those less fortunate or to volunteer with Vinnies – to tend to the local harvest! 

During this Refugee Week (18 – 24 June) we are invited to respond both in kind and in prayer 

Prayer for Refugee Week:

Lord, no one is a stranger to you, and no one is ever far from your loving care. In your kindness watch over refugees and asylum seekers, those separated from their loved one, those who are lost, those who have been made destitute and those who have been exiled. Bring them safely to the place where they long to be and help us always to show your kindness to strangers and those in need.

                                                                                                                               Phil Billington