“Pray the Lord of the harvest
to send out labourers”
“Pray the Lord of the harvest to
send out labourers”. This means that the harvest is ready, but God wishes to
enlist helpers to bring it into the storehouse. God needs them. He needs people
to say: yes, I am ready to become your harvest labourer; I am ready to offer
help so that this harvest which is ripening in people’s hearts may truly be
brought into the storehouses of eternity and become an enduring, divine
communion of joy and love. “Pray the Lord of the harvest” also means that we
cannot simply “produce” vocations; they must come from God. This is not like
other professions, we cannot simply recruit people by using the right kind of
publicity or the correct type of strategy. The call which comes from the heart
of God must always finds its way into the heart of man. And yet, precisely so
that it may reach into hearts, our cooperation is needed. To pray the Lord of
the harvest means above all to ask him for this, to stir his heart and say:
“Please do this! Rouse labourers! Enkindle in them enthusiasm and joy for the
Gospel! Make them understand that this is a treasure greater than any other,
and that whoever has discovered it, must hand it on!”
We stir the heart of God. But our
prayer to God does not consist of words alone; the words must lead to action so
that from our praying heart a spark of our joy in God and in the Gospel may
arise, enkindling in the hearts of others a readiness to say “yes”. As people
of prayer, filled with his light, we reach out to others and bring them into
our prayer and into the presence of God, who will not fail to do his part. In
this sense we must continue to pray the Lord of the harvest, to stir his heart,
and together with God touch the hearts of others through our prayer. And he,
according to his purpose, will bring to maturity their “yes”, their readiness
to respond; the constancy, in other words, through all this world’s perplexity,
through the heat of the day and the darkness of the night, to persevere
faithfully in his service. Hence they will know that their efforts, however
arduous, are noble and worthwhile because they lead to what is essential, they
ensure that people receive what they hope for: God’s light and God’s love.
BENEDICT XVI
Meeting with Priests and Deacons – Freising 14 September 2006