Prayer for sending the labourers
Is God already answering them??
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Luke 10, 2)
The feast day of Francis Xavier is a big one for me, being an Indian and a Jesuit. The above verse is part of the gospel reading of the day. So the immediate question for me is… Who are the workers in this harvest field of God? And the answer is equally immediate; all of us. Each of our vocations is unique, different and possess its on beauty; but there is nothing in our vocation that makes some of our vocations privileged.
Christoph Theobald basing on Karl Rahner (both are brilliant theologians) says (in my own words)
Holy Spirit is always active in the Church (and in the world). He gives different charisms to people at different periods; charisms which are appropriate for those times. It is important to discern; but the primary issue is to identify them as they emerge.
Can we see the above quote as a contemporary interpretation of the above gospel verse?
I think so…. if not, we will be continue to pray the same prayer without understanding that God is already answering them. But that answer requires a collaboration from us — which is to recognise the charisms God is providing in the contemporary times. Some of those contemporary charisms may require changing our styles of thinking, acting and being the Church. I think Synodal process in the Church, is the latest answer to that original prayer to send labourers.
