"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mt 9:37-38).
Jesus instructs Christians to pray for laborers for the harvest (Mt 9:38) and for disciples to heal and evangelize others (Mt 10:1, 7-8). Matthew concludes his gospel by saying, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...and teaching them to obey everything" (Mt 28:19). Thus, everything that I decide and choose to do should be somehow related to evangelism, i.e., winning others for Christ and his kingdom.
- I pray that my life, lifestyle, choices, and morals may reflect Christ and the holiness of God (Rom 8:29; Heb 12:10).
- In my older years (Ps 92:14) I pray to live a life of repentance (Ps 51:1-4; Mk 1:15).
- I pray to learn and/or re-learn a life of prayer, piety and purity so that God can use me to somehow influence others (Ps 51:13), even the next generation (Ps 22:30).
First Week of Advent |
Matthew 9:35—10:1, 5a, 6–8 |
Friends, today Jesus instructs us to pray for laborers for the harvest, for disciples to do the work of evangelization. We need to organize our lives around evangelization. Everything we do ought to be related somehow to it. This doesn't mean that we all have to become professional evangelizers. Remember, you can evangelize by the moral quality of your life. But it does mean that nothing in our lives ought to be more important than announcing the victory of Jesus.
We should think of others not as objects to be used, or annoying people in the way of realizing our projects, but rather as those whom we are called to serve. Instead of saying, "Why is this annoying person in my way?" we should ask, "What opportunity for evangelization has presented itself?" Has God put this person in your life precisely for this purpose? |
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