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Holy Name Monastery
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laborers

The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

June 20, 2023 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”  I had a flash back memory when I began Lectio with this Gospel story.  The summer that I entered our community, the shoreline in Lake Jovita was slowing receding and leaving a stretch of sandy beach in its wake.  St. Augustine grass was quick to see a rich opportunity to spread its runners.  In contrast, S. Rosaria, our directress, was determined that the grass was not going to win conquerors’ rights.  Believe me, the harvest was ABUNDANT!  Guess who the few laborers would be!  It was summertime and as novices our schedules included, yes, a refreshing hour at the lake to look forward to.  We who were being introduced to the convent practice of silence could laugh aloud, splash each other with glee, and even swim far from the dock … of course, in pairs.  But you’ll remember this reverie started because Jesus is talking about laborers and S. Rosaria had in her charge a handful of young, able-bodied, noisy laborers.  You guessed it!  We were instructed to spend 15 minutes of our precious recreation hour pulling up the “mile-long” runners of root-bound St. Augustine grass.  It certainly has earned its nickname “buffalo grass.”

Jesus had a knack, didn’t He, for immersing His hearers right into their surroundings?  He uses examples that are staring them right in the face and in many cases that are familiar to us.  Reading this Gospel we can imagine row upon row of Florida strawberries, fields as far as the eye can see of native wildflowers. See, the farmers and immigrant fieldhands are up before the sun to do back-bending labor until sundown.  Greenhouses across the landscape give evidence to the growing appeal and popularity of aquaponic and hydroponic farming.  The citrus industry has been driven south of us and replaced with peach orchards and Christmas tree farms as well as development.  We pray for the same intentions of our decades-ago ancestors: send us rain at the right season for a rich harvest, keep plant-eating critters away from our share of the food crops, give us health and strong backs to cultivate our gardens and laden our tables with Your bounty.  And, those children trailing the adults and the big kids; bending low to the ground to drop in seeds one-by-one?  Bless them, O God, with the delightful experience of fostering fledging plants to full bloom, and the sense of pride in adding to the array on the dinner table.  And comfort them, we pray, when tears fall on their plates of fried pet chicken.

Then I recalled hearing, probably in 5th grade, the story of the Alabama farmer George Washington Carver, known as the “Father of the Peanut Industry.”  He developed more than 300 uses for peanuts from chili sauce to shampoo; shaving cream to glue and helped save agriculture in the South.  But with all the effort to cultivate an alternative valuable crop, the farmers lost sight of what this was doing to the soil’s contents.  Now they had to deal with the same problem, soil depletion, that had caused them to switch from cotton to peanuts.  Observing the agricultural practice of rotation of crops can teach us the production benefit of increased yields, improving the organic matter in the soil, thus disrupting the lifecycle of field pests and reducing the use of chemical pesticides.

So, how in creation is this applicable to the Gospel lesson?  Jesus says, “Go into the territory of the lost sheep….”  Cure drooping arms and dragging legs, raise from the dead, cleanse the diseased, drive out demons (crop pests).  And make an announcement: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Do you think Jesus might have read farmers’ thoughts and observed their actions at the beginning of each growing season as they were gathering with all the farmhands, standing arms akimbo, eyeing the message that the sheep were sending with the evidence of their grazing patterns?  See how they self-select richer pasture land as the available harvest is depleted.  They follow a rotation of availability of crops moving from once fertile field on to one with the promise of richer pasture.

Again, how is this applicable today?  I think there is a timely vocation lesson tucked into the last sentence.  “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”  Our life is our message.  A spirit of hospitality costs nothing but goodwill.  It starts in the home, the community, between each other and spreads like water seeping into cracks, binding us to one another.  Contemplate what Jesus said: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”  Listen to what is being sought in the dreams of others.  Where can you fill the gaps?  That’s how we “Cure the sick, pray for the dead and comfort mourners; drive out ill-will; raise drooping spirits and spread Jesus’ announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ ”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Please pray for calm weather and for peaceful recovery for the many people striving to recover from violent weather.

 

First Reading:   Exodus 19:2-6a         Second Reading:  Romans 5:6-11
Gospel:   Matthew 9:36-10:8

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: crops, farmers, Gospel, Jesus, laborers, peanuts, pests, S. Rosaria, The Kingdom of heaven is at hand

When We Enter a House, Our Message Will Simply Be “Peace.”

July 5, 2016 by Holy Name Monastery 1 Comment

peace-to-this-householdJesus is warning us it is going to be difficult – that he is sending us out like lambs among wolves. Yet we are to bring nothing with us, not even a wallet or flip flops. We are to make no side trips along the way or greet bystanders on the way so as not to be distracted from our mission. When we enter a house, our message will be simply “peace.” The response we receive may be positive or negative. Either way, we are to know that the Kingdom of God is at hand. We are not to demand special treatment but eat and drink whatever is given to us. We are to stay in one house and are not look around for someone who can provide better accommodations. We are to ask a blessing for the sick as a sign that the Kingdom of God is at hand for them. If the locale will not receive us, we are to shake the dust from our feet and move on. Even in the case of such rejection we will know that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

In 2015, the world’s population was 7.2 billion.  Of that number there were reportedly 1.2 billion Catholics in the world with over 40% of those in Latin America and the fastest conversion rate in Africa.  Sounds like those early disciples clearly did not work in vain. Their “mustard seeds” grew from 12 into large branches, sprawling trees providing shelter for hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of souls living today – not counting all those who have gone before us.   That invisible yeast worked its influence dramatically on the seemingly inert dough.

Among those who call themselves Christians, how many could be deemed active labors in God’s vineyard?  The harvest is still great.  There is still a large population which profess to be agnostic or atheist – who have not met or who deny the existence of God.

But a common perception of “laborers” is priests, or religious brothers and sisters, those who have a “vocation”. One hears people expressing regret that today there are so few “vocations”. What will the Church do?    However, it is doubtful that Jesus was thinking of priests and religious when he spoke those words. In fact, in the world of the New Testament there were no priests or religious as we understand those terms today. In the mind of Jesus – and in the mind of the early evangelists – everyone who was known as a follower of Christ was expected to be a laborer in the harvest field.

How can one be a laborer?  Jesus told us our task is to be bringers of peace.  “Say first: Peace to this household.”  In early June of this year, Pope Francis, in his introduction to priests’ on a 2-day retreat, spoke about the first steps in understanding and practicing mercy.  He said: “If we start by feeling compassion for the poor and the outcast, surely we will come to realize that we ourselves stand in need of mercy.”  I would suggest that the same principle applies to peace-making.  If we start by providing a peaceful environment for our visitors and guests, surely they (and we) will come to realize how peace feels, how much we need it and how quickly it can spread among us.  And, what better way spread peace than by modeling peaceful living by our demeanor and interactions with others – a quiet, contemplative atmosphere in the hallways, conscientiously using an agreeable, non-threatening tone of voice, and performing simple random acts of kindness for each other.

What Jesus recommends is not to weigh ourselves down with all kinds of baggage. Our security is not to be in material possessions, in what we have. It is not in our status and standing in the eyes of others. It is not in the power and influence that we can wield. Our security comes from deep within, a peaceful security that no one or no circumstance can take away from us.

I read a funny story the other day about competing. It seems there was a barber in a small town who had been the only barber in town for years. Everyone went to this barber to get their hair cut. Then, one day a big, modern name-brand hair salon came to town and opened up shop. They advertised, “All Haircuts $3.00”   The old barber just couldn’t compete. In a last ditch effort to save his business, he hired a business consultant. The consultant spent a day pouring over the barber’s books and asking many questions. At the end of the day the barber asked the consultant, “So what do you think?  Should I close up shop?” The consultant said, “Not yet. I’ll be back tomorrow.” The next day the consultant showed up with a huge banner that he hung in front of the barber shop that said, “We Fix $3.00 Haircuts!” The competition doesn’t always win, do they?  We don’t need to compete – we just need to BE – be models of peace to each other, practice wise stewardship, believe in God’s goodness and mercy – and live it!

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
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Filed Under: Blog, Homily Tagged With: Jesus, Kingdom of God, laborers, mercy, mustard seeds, Peace, vocations

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