“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest” (Lk 10: 2). This statement was surely true when Luke wrote it in the first century.
There was the whole world to evangelize and there were only 12 Apostles. But is it true today in the 21st century? There is no doubt that today the harvest is abundant. There are more than six billion people in the world today, most of whom have not been evangelized. But are the laborers few?
The answer depends on your definition of the laborers. Who are the laborers? If you say that the clergy and the religious are the laborers, then the laborers are few, distressingly few. There are hundreds of parishes in this country without a priest. And the ranks of the religious have been reduced distressingly. But the clergy and the religious constitute only about one percent of the Church. If you say that all of the baptized are laborers, then the laborers are not few. There are more than one billion Catholics in the world today. That makes one out of every six people in the world a laborer more than enough to gather the abundant harvest into the Church.
Unfortunately many of the baptized do not know that they are laborers in the vineyard. They do not realize that to be a disciple is to be an apostle. It would be well for us to reread the “Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People” of the Second Vatican Council, on “the laity’s special and indispensable role in the mission of the Church,” which tells us that
[i]ndeed, the Church can never be without the lay apostolate; it is something that derives from the layman’s very vocation as a Christian. Scripture clearly shows how spontaneous and fruitful was this activity in the Church’s early days (cf Acts 11:19-21; 18:26; Rom 16:1-16; Phil 4:3).
Tradition tells us that as early as 325 the first Ecumenical Council of the Church, the Council of Nicea, was called by a member of the laity, Emperor Constantine.
Paul likens the Church to the human body in which there are many parts but one body, and all of the parts are necessary for the proper functioning of the body. “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of the one Spirit” (1 Cor 12:12-13).
The laity must not forget their great dignity and responsibility, and the great need the Church has for them. They also are the “salt of the earth,” and the “light of the world.” Vatican II teaches that there is no such thing as a “more perfect state of life.” Everyone is called by baptism to holiness. By baptism and confirmation the laity participate in the common priesthood of Christ. All of the baptized are given graces and gifts not only for the benefit of the recipient but also for the building up of the Church. These gifts are to be recognized and used by those in authority.
The laity are the “high priests of the temporal order.” They are the legislators, judges and administrators who make, interpret and enforce the civil laws of the country in which we live. They are also the parents, the prime educators in the primary formative society, the family. In the Rite of Baptism we tell the parents that they “will be the first teachers of their child in the way of faith. May they also be the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith by what they say and do.” Genesis reveals the family as the first and the most fundamental unit of society, and Vatican II calls the family, “the domestic sanctuary of the Church.” Pope John Paul II called the family the “sanctuary of life,” in a “culture of death.” The family is also the primary seminary where the seeds of the priesthood and religious life are sown and nurtured. The laity compose the vast majority of teachers in the Catholic schools at all levels.
In the world in which we live, of course only God is indispensable the cemeteries are full of indispensable people. But in the Kingdom of God everyone is unique, unrepeatable, gifted, graced and indispensable. Everyone is a laborer in the Lord’s vineyard. And the harvest today is indeed abundant. May we all work together to harvest it for the Lord.
Fr. Rodney Kissinger was Director of Montserrat, the Jesuit Retreat House in Dallas, Retreat Master at the Jesuit Retreat House in New Orleans, and at the Jesuit retreat house in Grand Coteau. He was Pastor of St. John’s Church in Shreveport, Associate Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Tampa, and taught in the Jesuit High Schools of Dallas and Tampa.
This article previously appeared on the website of Fr. Kissinger and is used by permission.