July 9, 2024, Tuesday
St. Augustine Zhao Rong & companions Read: Hos 8: 4-7, 11-13 Mt 9: 32-38
“The harvest is good but the laborers are scarce. Beg the harvest master to send out laborers to gather his harvest.” (Mt. 9:36-37)
Jesus came to fulfill the will of His Father: “Doing the will of him who sent me and bringing his work to completion is my food. Do you not have a saying: ‘Four months more and it will be harvest!’? Listen to what I say: Open your eyes and see! The fields are shining for harvest!” (Jn. 4:34-35)
Our Lord could have sent workers in sufficient numbers for the harvest of souls, but instead, He left it up to us to ask, indeed to beg, for workers.
Many people lose their way because they lack genuine pastors to lead them. There are many ways to go, and many paths to follow in the world. We need someone to help us find the proper path.
Yet those who control the most fabulous and far-reaching means of communication (social media, TV, music, movies, etc.) “guide” people to just the opposite of what God’s Word would have us do. And they do it to make money and to control. Who will fight these thieves and marauders for the salvation of souls?
We need vocations! We lack the priests, deacons, sisters, brothers, committed lay missionaries, and ministers to do the work. “Beg the harvest master to send out laborers to gather his harvest.”
Reflection and commentary
Psalm 28:9 “Save your people, bless your inheritance; feed and sustain them forever!”
St. Augustine Zhao Rong & 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 Western missionaries from, the mid-17th century to 1930, were martyred because of their ministry and, in some cases, for their refusal to apostatize.
Leave a Reply