Sometimes, to be together in a big crowd is a lot of fun. It’s exciting. There’s a certain energy that makes it more enjoyable. And at other times, being together in a really large crowd is not such a fun thing. In fact, it can be down right scary. At the State Fair, at a ballgame, at a race, at a festival, or even in traffic, when there are lots of people that you don’t know, and folks are there from all different backgrounds and situations, you don’t know what you’re going to run into or what they are going to be like. I think that especially for us as Catholic Christians, sometimes we forget how different we are or how different the values that we live by are, until we are thrown together in a mass of humanity. I went to a ballgame last fall, which really brought this out for me. We were waiting to get in, and it was crowded, and it was hot, and there were a lot of people that were drunk. And there were a lot of people who were impatient. And then, of course, there were people who were getting very angry. It was not a good situation. And I found myself looking at the vast crowd and the intense situation, and becoming very judgmental. I thought to myself, “Man, that person really had way too much to drink”. And then I’d see somebody else, and I’d think, “Man, they really need to learn some patience”. And then I’d see somebody getting really angry, and I thought to myself, “Man, that person really has a problem with anger management”. And herein lies the difference between the way that Jesus is, and the way that most of us are, or at least, I am. And today, Jesus calls us all, to be more like Him and to think more like Him.

Today, Jesus is also confronted with a vast crowd. And much like a large crowd today, Jesus’ crowd two-thousand years ago was full of people who were a mess. These were sinful people. These were people who were angry, or bitter, or depressed. But that’s not what Jesus saw when He looked out at the vast crowd that day. Instead, Jesus sees a lost flock: sheep without a shepherd. He knows their sins. But Jesus is not judgmental. Instead, Jesus sees with compassion the great potential of those who are right in front of Him! What would it take for us to see others in this light? When Jesus looked out into that crowd that day, He saw a harvest of shepherdless souls. “The harvest is plentiful,” He said, “but the laborers are few.” Why is it, that as Jesus’ followers, we can’t see the same opportunity in those around us? We have so many people who are starving for God in their lives. They try and fill their lives up with everything else to get rid of the hunger: money, sex, popularity, power, materialism, alcohol, food, drugs, and the list of our false gods is endless! And they never work. They never meet our needs. They never satisfy us. They just leave us hungering for more. We need God in our lives. And even more importantly, we’ve got a world full of people who we share this planet with, who also need God in their lives.

And guess what? As God’s people, as those who bear the name and the sign of Jesus Christ in the world today, it is our all of our vocations to continue Christ’s incarnation as we imitate Jesus for the world. Today, we are the laborers. Today we are the ones sent out. What’s it going to take for us to own that responsibility of what God is asking us to do here? You know we like to sit back and watch, and we pretend that evangelization is somebody else’s job. And it’s not. It’s our job. You don’t have to have a collar on. You don’t have to have the Bible memorized. You don’t have to have a degree in theology. But you do have to be bringing people to Christ. We are the new Peters, and Andrews, and Johns. Today the building up of the Kingdom of God is entrusted to us, every bit as much as it was entrusted the Twelve Apostles two thousand years ago. Isn’t that an awesome responsibility? Doesn’t that make those little hairs on the back of your neck just stand up on end? We are building the Kingdom of God. What are YOU doing to make that happen?

We need to strive to see others as Jesus sees them, and, as a consequence, we need to strive to minister to them as best we can in honor of Jesus’ dying love for them. We have to love others because Jesus loved them enough to die on the cross for them too. Jesus emptied Himself of everything out of love for His children. Jesus continues to call all of us to empty ourselves of whatever keeps us from loving our brothers and sisters, even the “least” of our brothers and sisters. This does not mean that we disregard obvious sin, especially sin that is self-destructive. But our ministry and our vocation does not allow us to be condescending and self-righteous either. We are to be like Christ, not in impersonation, but in imitation.

There are lots of people out there. And sometimes it does get kind of crowded, even in this big old world. But everyone is invited to the Kingdom. May we, as the new Apostles, carry that invitation to every person that we come in contact with. If we are working for God, the Harvest is ours for the taking. All we have to do is go to work!

May God bless us today, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!