The Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist, October 18th, 2020

"The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few . . . " (St. Luke 10:2)  These are the words of Our Blessed Lord recorded in the Tenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke.  I was in a store about a week ago or so and the person behind the counter was all by himself and I could see that he was doing every thing himself:  help customers; answering the phones; putting things on the shelves; etc.  I could tell by his reactions that he truly was overwhelmed.  I could just see in his expression his question:  "Where is my help?!? I need some help!!!!"  I would imagine just about all of us feel that way at our jobs.  Things get busy and we get overwhelmed by everything that needs to be accomplished and we begin to question, "where is everyone?!?  I need some help!!!  NOW!!!"    "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few . . . "  So too when it comes to doing the work of God.  Sometimes it seems as though we are the only ones doing what needs to be done.  Sometimes we begin to wonder where everyone is at in regards to doing the work of God.  Hey!  Where is everybody?!?!   I could use some help here.  Thanks.  And on top of that it can seem like such a thankless job at times.   When you try to be a faithful Christian in the world of ours, you run the risk of:  getting criticized . . . .  getting laughed at . .  . made fun of . . .  mocked . . . . scorned . . .  belittled . . . . overwhelmed . . . . The list goes on and on.  And yet we have comfort in knowing that Our Blessed Lord does not ask us to do anything that He did not do Himself.  Our Blessed Saviour also endured all these things and more.   Have you ever had a boss or supervisor who asked you to do something, expected you to do something, but that same supervisor refused to do that job themselves.  Contrast that with a boss or supervisor who led by example and was not afraid to get in there and also do the job they are asking you to do.  This is Our Blessed Lord.  Yes, the work is hard.  Yes, the work is difficult.  But Christ Himself calls us to do what He Himself did.  And the thing that amazes me is that Christ does not NEED our help.  Rather, He DESIRES our help.  In other words, Our Blessed Lord asks us for our help.  He asks us for our assistance.  Thus, it is up to us.  We are the ones who have to decide and the power, so to speak, is in our hands.  Yes, the harvest is truly great, as we are reminded in St. Luke's Gospel.  God is calling us to assist Him.  It is up to each one of us to decide if we will take on the responsibility or not.  It is up to each one of us to answer the call.  It is up to each one of us to do the work.  Will we be one of the few who answer the call????  It is up to you.

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