(Luke 10: 1- 12, 17-20)

Margaret Mehren  was a  Franciscan nun, who taught English in a high school for blacks in South Africa. She grew up in a family that was  very  anti-church. And the church that  her family  hated most  was the Catholic Church.

As a teenager, Margaret read pamphlets that tried to prove that the  Bible was false  and that  Christianity was dead and no longer relevant for the modern world.

Then one day, out of curiosity, she picked up the Bible to see for herself what it was all about. After a while, she put it down.  The pamphlet was right. The  Bible didn’t make sense;  it couldn’t be true. Later on, she picked up the Bible again. Once again, she put it down. It still didn’t make sense. It left her unmoved.

But  something kept bringing Margaret back to that Bible. Then one night she picked it up again. This time,  she happened to turn to the Gospels. And  this time  it made sense.  It  had  an impact on her that changed her life.

Later, she wrote in a magazine article: “Something happened to me [that night] when I read the words of Jesus. I knew he was alive! … I knew he was there {in the room with me], even though I could not hear or see anything. Jesus was real, more real than anything around me…. I was no longer alone. My life was no longer a dead-end street.” Eventually,  Margaret became a Catholic. Then, shortly after entering the Church,  she became a nun.

Some years ago, a  Jesuit priest  from India, named  Anthony de Mello, did a  satellite television program. It was transmitted to  76 universities  in the United States and Canada and involved  3,000 college students  in open dialogue. That broadcast got more phone calls than did any other broadcast that year.

Tony grew up near Bombay,  India, in a Catholic family. One day he came home from high school and  asked his father if he could become a priest. His father said, “No, you’re my only son,  and I want you  to carry on the family name.”

Some time later, after  a span of  14 years  of having no children, Tony’s mother conceived.  When she was rushed to the hospital for delivery,  Tony ran the four-mile distance on foot.

Arriving out of breath, he asked his father, “Is it a boy or a girl?” His father smiled and said, “Tony, you have a brother!” Tony said,  “Great, Dad! Now I can become a priest!”

There’s yet another story.  Ann Landers  wrote her first advice column for a newspaper  over 30 years ago. Later, her syndicated feature appears in over  1,000 newspapers.

An interviewer asked her once, “What is the question that you are asked most frequently  by your readers?”  She answered that it was a very simple question: “What’s the matter with me?  Why am I so lonely?”

The interviewer then asked her  what the solution  to that problem was. Her answer was,  “Get involved! Do something for other people.” And the people who need help are all around you. Everywhere you look, you see them.

The stories of  Margaret, Tony  and the story of  Ann Landers  relate to today’s Gospel. In today’s Gospel Jesus tells his disciples, “The harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few.”

What Jesus meant by this statement is that  the world is filled with people in need. But there are  so  few people willing to help them. People are looking for help. The problem is that  there are  too few people willing to help.

Never before in history has there been  a  harvest so great. And never before in history  has there been  such a need for generous people to step forward and help Jesus  with the harvest.

That brings us to the  practical application  of all this to our lives. If you are a  young person  and  want to make a difference  in our world, maybe you should  take very seriously the words of Jesus  in today’s Gospel. Maybe you should  consider doing what Margaret and Tony did.

Maybe Jesus is trying to  speak to you through their stories. At the very least, you should do this much: You should take seriously Jesus’ words about  the need for workers in the harvest. You should  pray over his words earnestly!  You shouldn’t simply dismiss them.

And if we should  consider the advice of Ann Landers  to her readers, maybe  we should  get involved. Maybe we should  think about  doing something to make this world a better place for our children.

Maybe Jesus is trying to speak to us through her words. At the very least, we should do this much: We should  take seriously Jesus’ words about the need for workers  in the harvest.  We should  pray over his words earnestly!  We shouldn’t simply dismiss them.

Fr. Tom Forest,  a priest long active in  evangelism training, offers a four-point plan:  Prayer, Care, Share, and  Dare.

1. PRAYER  – A disciple  brings others to Christ  before bringing Christ to others. We  pray in advance  for those  we will meet today, who  do not know Christ. We pray: for  ways  to touch the person,  for the  ability  to keep  loving  despite rejection, for the  right words,  for  compassion, for their  receptive ear  and  open heart.

2. CARE  – The  witnessing of the life you live  will do more to open doors than any words. Show genuine interest.  Caring connects  us with others. We show care when  we are  sensitive to people’s needs. That can mean  a  listening ear,  a  phone call,  a  shared meal, help with  baby-sitting,  financial assistance if possible, emotional support, just to name a few examples.

3. SHARE  – Now is the  time to tell your story. What has God done for you?  Outline your faith journey. It is  personal  for each of us. Show the  turning points along the way. Who were your  faith builders? Who  helped you see God more clearly? The  witnessing of our mothers  helped many of us  understand better the love God has for us.

Imagine that someone asks:  “What has God done for you?” Practice the answer. Fr. Tom Forest says that we should  have a witness as short as an elevator ride or  as long as a plane ride. Put  no pressure on the listener. Your witness is  just your story, which hopefully  plants seeds of curiosity  to know more. We need to tell our story for our age. Our  going out two-by-two  may be  no further than our living room or a  wedding reception, but we must witness.

4. DARE  –  Step out and invite  the person to  accept Christ’s love and salvation.  A  salesperson  will never close a deal without asking the question: “Do you want to buy?  Please sign on the dotted line.” As  salespersons for Christ, we have to get to the point where we say: “Do you want Christ to be part of your life, too?” Make the offer practical –  invite the person to attend Mass with you or  to join some Christian formation programs.

This is the  message in today’s readings. This is what  Jesus is saying  to us in this liturgy.

For indeed, my brothers and sisters, never in history has the harvest been so great. Never have the workers been so few.