Laborers needed to bring in the harvest

July 8, 2007 -- 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What are the deep things you think about? 2. How do you promote the Kingdom of God? 3. What labor has God assigned to you in promoting His Father's reign?

William James (1842-1910), the scholarly American psychologist and philosopher, wrote: "There is, it must be confessed, a curious fascination in having deep things talked about, even though neither we nor the disputants understand them" (cf. Pragmatism, Meridian Books, 1955, p. 18). We are curious about deep things like love and death, war and peace, God and human nature, though our understanding and comprehension is so limited.

Isaiah the prophet spoke about deep things: love, life, the power of God. He not only spoke about these large realities, he also encouraged the people of his day to respond to them in appropriate and thoughtful ways. Regarding God's love and the grace of prosperity, Isaiah exhorts joy and exultation. God is presented as a comforting mother; prosperity as the working of divine providence. Surely both the prophet and his people stumbled in their attempt to speak about and comprehend the deep things of God. But for that, their curiosity was in no way lessened.

And speaking of deep things, St. Paul is an audacious master. He goes right into the heart of darkness - crucifixion and death. And how does he deal with these horrendous realities? He boasts of them! More, he claims to bear on his body the marks of Christ (and surely in his soul, as well). St. Paul goes on to say that it is precisely in the cross that we find peace and mercy, indeed, a new creation. If such teaching does not cause curiosity to arise in our soul, nothing will.

Two thousand years later we are still attempting to understand these deep mysteries. The old themes of suffering and death still boggle our minds and test our souls. What St. Paul embraced in faith, we struggle to appropriate despite our fear and cowardice. May St. Paul's words be realized in our day: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit."

At first glance, the images of harvest and laborers do not appear too deep or incomprehensible. After all, we are still in somewhat of an agrarian culture and we have personal experience of hay fields and rows upon rows of corn. The harvest is out there waiting to be brought into barns and silos.

But the Gospel harvest refers to the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that is at hand. Here, indeed, a deep thing: God's reign over the human heart and history. Jesus came to bring that Kingdom into our lives so that all creation might be reconciled to the Father. A major part of this mission was to involve others in the process of building the Kingdom. The mission involves ministers, laborers to bring in the harvest. It is here that we often don't get it or sense the urgency of the issue. Thus, we keep coming up short of laborers. This need not be, since every baptized person is called to participate in the mission and ministry of Jesus. Were we to understand the deep things about the Kingdom, our barns would be full.

William James is the ultimate pragmatist. He was concerned with consequences. Hopefully, he was also concerned with the deep things of life even though they exceed his and our total comprehension.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)