Rehabilitating the Labor Force

07 Saturday Dec 2024

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections, Christian Life, Evangelization

Tags

Charity, Christian living, Cleanse the lepers, Cure the sick, Drive out demons, Evangelization, Faith, God, Jesus, Master of the harvest, Mt 10:1-8, Mt 9:35-38, Prayer, Raise the dead

In today’s Gospel, Mt 9:35 – 10:1, 5-8, Jesus shows his compassion for the many people who’ve come to him to hear his teaching and to be cured. As I imagine myself in that scene, I sense Jesus is overwhelmed because He knows there are so many more people who need to be cured, who need to be preached to, but He simply can’t get to them all. He needs help and he tells His disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Then, rather than just wish for help, He commissions His twelve disciples, giving them authority to drive out unclean spirits and cure every disease and illness.

Whether you like it or not, Jesus is talking to us – to you and me. He’s asking us to not only be productive laborers but to increase the labor force. For most of us, that’s a scary thought, and a task that’s all too easy for us to turn from and walk away. We feel either incompetent or it’s inconvenient for us and low on our to-do list. But, it’s a condition of employment, so to speak. In a way, the compensation we receive will depend on how well we accept and perform that job requirement.

But Jesus is a fair and just employer. He doesn’t expect everyone to aspire to be upper level management. He just wants us to do the best job we can in the jobs we have – our particular vocations. We don’t have to be priests, religious, or parish Directors of Evangelization. He doesn’t expect us to quit our jobs as parents, siblings, friends and neighbors to be something we’re not. He just asks us to help Him in the roles we’ve chosen and the environment in which we work.

Often we get so wrapped up in our jobs that we forget that the mission of the company is to provide a service or product that is needed by others. It’s that way with our Christian faith, in which our mission is to serve others so that they will discover the saving grace of Jesus. Jesus trains us through Scripture and the Sacraments, through which He gives us the knowledge and tools to do our jobs well.

Where do we start? Well, Jesus asked his disciples to begin by asking “the master to send out laborers.” He’s telling us to pray, to pray to God for insight for whom we can reach out to join our labor force. This may be a new hire to our faith, or someone already on the payroll who’s not quite pulling their weight. If we pray, and if we pay attention, the Holy Spirit will put someone on our hearts.

But prayer is just the starting point. We have to use the knowledge and skills we’ve been taught through our faith formation, from what we’ve learned at our weekly meetings (Mass), and how we’ve seen other top producers (the Saints), do their jobs. By applying what we’ve learned, and with the support we will be given, we can add to our ranks and grow our business.

Many people, though, need some form of rehabilitation before they can become productive co-workers. Jesus has conferred on us degrees in Occupational Therapy. Like He gave His twelve disciples, He’s given us the authority and ability through the gift of charity and friendship to cure the sick– those who are spiritually ill, who are suffering from infectious diseases caught in the secular environment; and to raise the dead – those who were once alive but have succumbed to one of these fatal infectious diseases.

And, like the disciples, we can cleanse the lepers – by offering love and respecting the human dignity of those who aren’t exactly like us; who are rejected or who are outcasts from society because of decisions they’ve made or unfortunate circumstances that have occurred in their lives. And, we can drive out demons – by being good friends who, with compassion, help those who are controlled by vices such as pride, anger, envy, lust, gluttony, sloth, and greed, – all of the things the enemy uses to keep people from God; and help them through anxiety about worries and regrets over which they have no control.

Our Lord needs more good and able people to expand His kingdom. He’s depending on us to look within our own spheres of influence, to ask Him for guidance, and to employ all that he’s taught us to rehabilitate co-workers and new hires alike, so that the harvest will yield more fruit per acre.

“Lord Jesus, thank You for teaching me, for setting the example of how to grow Your kingdom. I feel pretty incompetent at times, but I know You are here with me and I only have to call upon You when I need help. Help me to never forget that I can’t do this alone, that You are always by my side. Amen.”

(Rehabilitating the Labor Force, was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

©2013-2024 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

Be an Ambassador for Christ

29 Wednesday Nov 2023

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Christian Life

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Tags

Ambassador for Christ, Christian Life, Friendship, Missionary Discipleship, Spiritual friendship

It’s been a while since my last post, and tonight seems like a good time to make amends. I’m going to do something new – reach back into my “draft” file and dust off one of the many unfinished reflections which never got posted because I ran out of time. This one took shape back in September but I don’t think it’s lost any relevance in the two months it’s sat incubating.

Be an Ambassador for Christ

One of my responsibilities as an alumni staff member at the Catholic Spiritual Mentorship Program in Kansas City is to be hospitable and get to know as many of the participants as I can. Since much of our days are structured, we have to be intentional about taking advantage of breaks and mealtimes to get to know one another.

I thought I’d done a decent job of meeting everyone, but today I found myself at the coffee bar standing behind Charlie and Julie, husband and wife, a couple with whom I’d not yet had the pleasure of officially meeting. I realized that this week of classes would be over in two days and I’d probably never see them again. Then and there I thought, “I need to get to know these folks”. So, I waited for Charlie to fill his cup and then said, “Charlie, I apologize but we’ve spent all this time together in the same building and we haven’t had a chance to talk. Let’s change that and have lunch together.” He and Julie both lit up with smiles and replied they would like that very much.

We walked and talked on our way to the dining hall and I learned a little about them. I said I wanted to hear their story and was surprised to hear Julie say that they already knew much of mine because someone had introduced them to this blog. Then, over lunch we had a beautiful conversation. Charlie and Julie shared some of their personal life with me, their love for Jesus and their desire to lead others closer to Him. Like the spiritual mentors they are training to be, they asked me good questions that prompted me to share more of my story with them, too.

Charlie and Julie are very nice people with warm smiles and gentle eyes. Like many folks, however, they are slightly uncomfortable in meeting new people and making the first move to initiate a conversation. But, all it took was someone to take the initiative, to be intentional, and to express an interest in them, and they were ready to welcome a new friend.

Charlie and Julie are not unique in this world, There are millions of people just like them who are eager for friendship and the chance to tell their story if only someone would be interested enough to listen. These people are not elsewhere. They are in our parishes, our neighborhoods and our workplaces. They are the people sitting next to you in the church pew, or the new parishioner who’s just moved to town and doesn’t know anyone. They could be someone who is lost and despairing, and God put you in their path on purpose.

As Catholics, we need to be ambassadors of friendship. We need to be Ambassadors for Christ. We need to be welcoming and hospitable and help others find happiness in the world by delighting in them and helping them feel relevant, and affirming that they are beloved sons and daughters of God.

To take the first step in becoming an Ambassador for Christ, it may require you to get out of your comfort zone. You may need to prepare by thinking, “I’m going to intentionally meet someone new today!” When you do, you’ll need the courage to reach out for a handshake and say, “Hi, I’m [name], I don’t think we’ve met before. What’s your name?” You may need to be ready with a follow-up question that will propagate the conversation such as (if they are new in the parish), “Oh, welcome, we’re glad to have you! Where are you from?” It’s actually pretty simple. Some of my closest friendships began just this way.

Although your next best friend might just be the person you’re about to meet, you don’t have to approach someone with the intention of becoming best friends. One can enter into a friendship with nothing in common except knowing that you have a shared love for our Lord. A friendship such as this allows you to open up about your successes and struggles in your walk with Jesus. It’s a friendship in which you accompany each other on your journeys.

Each one of us can have a spiritual friendship with another person. Whether we admit it or not, we need each other. God made us for each other. He shows His love for us through other people. We just have to seek and be open to opportunities, be open to where and to whom the holy Spirit is leading us, and invest in another person by listening to their story.

Charlie and Julie and I spent less than an hour together. We may never see each other again. But I know we could pick up the conversation right where we left off. The friendship we built in those few minutes will endure. I think we brought each other just a little bit closer to Christ. I am grateful for the grace to get out of my comfort zone and meet someone new, and I’m grateful to Charlie and Julie for enriching my life by sharing their story with me.

Charlie and Julie, peace to you both, my friends! I know your love for Jesus and others will enable you to be amazing Ambassadors for Christ. God bless!

“Dear God, thank You for the grace to set aside my personal discomfort and introverted-ness to become a better missionary disciple, an Ambassador for Your Son, Jesus. May the examples I set encourage others to also reach out and become Ambassadors who in turn will proclaim the Good News of the Gospel. Amen.”

(Be an Ambassador for Christ was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

©2013-2023 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

Jesus, the Spiritual Roadmap

07 Sunday May 2023

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections, Christian Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

I Am the Way the Truth and the Life, John 14:1-12, Meditation, Prayer, Roadtrips

I once was lost. Once. Back in 1991. I had to go to a gas well site in extreme Southwest Kansas. I was new to the area and I’d never been to that site before so I asked a fellow worker for directions. He told me to go down this road, turn left on another road and then turn right when you get to the big tree and it’s a couple miles from there. I couldn’t miss it, he said. I thought, that’s easy enough, I don’t need a map.

I found the first road and turned left but then I never saw the big tree. I kept driving looking for the big tree. I finally realized I was lost when I came to an intersection of two highways in Oklahoma, thirty miles south of where I was supposed to be. I found a pay phone (this was before cell phones), and called my associate. I told him I never found the big tree (there aren’t many trees nor much else in Southwest Kansas). His response….”Oh, that’s right, the tree fell down about five years ago but everybody knows where it was.” Everybody except me.

People who know me know that I like to drive. Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve been making long, cross-country roadtrips with my family. Some of my earliest memories include sitting in the front seat of our ’62 Chevy Bel Air somewhere between California and Missouri, studying a road atlas, and telling my dad how far it was to the next town down Route 66.

Younger folks these days might not know what an atlas or an accordion-fold state highway road map looks like. With GPS on cell phones, most people simply plug in an address, hit start and go where the cute voice tells them to go.

A few years ago, my daughter and her husband drove from Kansas to Middle Tennessee to meet us for a family reunion. They put the address in their GPS and relied on it to get them there. It took them through back country roads to the Tiptonville ferry which crosses the Mississippi River between Missouri and Tennessee. It’s a nine car ferry. When they arrived at the landing the ferry had just left. By the time the ferry returned and they got to the Tennessee side they’d lost about two hours. If they’d looked at a map they’d have seen a much better and quicker route.

Studying a map gives you the big picture. You have an idea of where you’re going, and what towns and scenery you can expect to see between here and there. You get an idea of waypoints and you can track your progress. A GPS, well, it just takes all the fun out of it.

Call me strange, but these memories came to mind this morning as I entered into prayer, meditating on today’s Gospel passage, John 14:1-12. Jesus said, “…’Where I am going you know the way.’” Thomas said to Him, ‘Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”(Jn 14: 4-6).

Thomas (nor any of the Apostles, actually) had not been paying attention. He followed his Master all around Galilee but hadn’t studied his roadmap, Jesus. He hadn’t looked out the window at the scenery. He didn’t know where he was going nor where he had been. He was lost and confused.

Living eternally with our Father in heaven is our destination. Jesus is the Way. He is the Roadmap. Studying Jesus and His life in the Scriptures, and following His directions, is the shortest and quickest route to heaven. He showed us the route: in the Beatitudes, in His works of mercy, in His love for the Father, and in His sacrifice for our personal salvation.

Jesus is the Truth. He will not lead you astray. You can depend on Him for a safe and enriching journey.

Jesus is the Life. He will fill your life with infinite graces, let you see along the way all the beauty that God created, and give you opportunities to live your life to the fullest with peace and happiness.

Study His map. Follow His directions. The joy experienced on the journey will only be exceeded by the awe and wonder when you arrive.

“Dear Jesus, send Your Holy Spirit into my heart that I might have the grace to consistently turn to you in prayerful meditation, study Your life in the Gospels, and apply what I learn in daily resolutions so that I make all the right turns. Amen.”

(Jesus, the Spiritual Roadmap was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)