I must admit that writing this post was difficult. I had writer’s block because I always viewed this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 10:1-12; 17-20) through the lens of being sent as an ordained minister into the world to serve God’s people. Yet, the harvest and reaping its fruits can be a call for all of us: married, single, or ordained.

Two moments resonate in my memory when I think about today’s gospel and the harvest being ripe. When I graduated from philosophy and my doctorate, the same hymn was sung by the assembly: The fields are ripe and ready to be reaped … so bless the Lord our God. After years of study, we were sent into the world to reap the harvest of the kingdom. It was such a beautiful image as one graduates from school and sent to take on the world.

The fields ripe and ready to be reaped. God has called you! The fact that God has called us is evidence that we belong to him. It is a call exuded with immense love. Stop and think a moment.

God has called you to a specific task in life. That is immense in itself! The foundation of this call is found in baptism. Pope Saint John Paul II reminds us, “Your baptismal calling leads you towards others: it is essentially a missionary calling.”

The Gospels give us insight to this voice that speaks from within.

The Lord calls us to the harvest. The harvest is the image of the kingdom. Matthew and Luke give an account of the Lord Jesus seeing that his people needed guidance.

Matthew shows us that we are sent to serve the helpless. In Matthew’s account, Jesus is on the road. He calls Matthew and heals everyone on the way. Jesus spoke of the harvest as he “went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity” (Matthew 9:35). He saw that his people were harassed and helpless. They were sheep without a shepherd. Jesus sends his disciples out into the world, never to fear of what others will do to them, exhorting them to stay the course.

In service to those who are harassed, helpless, and poor, Pope Francis is very direct. He believed that all are called to serve the least. He says,

No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice.

To serve the poor is a great privelege. They have a special openness to faith. We can learn from them.

Luke shows us that we are never sent alone, we are sent with others. Luke pivots his account of the Lord’s command. Jesus heals a boy possessed by a demon (9:37-43), the Samaritan village rejects him (9:51-55), and converses with people who intend to follow him, but asks to bury their loved one first (9:57-62). This sets us up for the seventy who are sent to be laborers in the harvest. Significant to Luke is the later part of this commission, the disciples realize they have the authority to cast out demons. Jesus exhorts them to rejoice that their names are written eternally in heaven, and not in their power to battle the demons.

Our goal should always be heaven! No matter what the Lord calls us to do for him, keep your eyes and heart on heaven. See that heaven is here now, it is being unravelled in our midst as we serve others.

God’s people experienced heaven as God’s dwelling with them in the desert. They erected a tent where they met the Holy of holies. A fuller expression of this encounter was in the Jerusalem temple where liturgy was celebrated and sacrifice was offered.

Then, through Christ, the Church is given to all who believe. This is heaven now. We encounter God through the sacraments of the Church – a glimpse of heavenly glory. The Church points us to the future in the Book of Revelation. We anticipate the day when “God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and there will be no more suffering” (Revelation 21:4). In anticipation for that day, we carry on with great hope!

There is always work to be done in the Lord’s harvest. Pope Saint John Paul II said,

The horizon of the Lord’s “harvest” is indeed limitless, if we consider not only the pastoral needs of the Church herself but also the immense number of people who still await the first proclamation of the Gospel. Amid all the complexity of the present time … we need to recognize the search for meaning – a real yet often silent search – which is spreading through society. There is an unexpressed sense of need for Christ rising up from young people, from the world of culture, and from the great ethical and social challenges of our time. In order to respond to this need, the whole Church must become completely ministerial, a community of heralds and witnesses, rich in labourers for the harvest.

God’s people need our witness. God’s people are drawn by the authenticity of our lives whether as married, parent, single, or ordained. Let us be on our way for the fields are ripe and ready to be reaped.