Homily of the Day from Catholic Exchange

"Pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you."

That's the short version. Here's a piece of the long:

In Sunday’s gospel, Jesus was saddened by the crowds that were so obviously troubled and aimless, "like sheep without a shepherd." So he said to his followers, "Ask the Lord to send out laborers for this harvest." We don’t know what his followers actually prayed for. But if they were like us, they probably prayed, very sincerely, that just the right persons would come along to solve the problem. And that wasn’t what Jesus had in mind. The prayer he wanted to hear from each of them was, "Lord, send me. With your help, I know I can do what needs to be done." That’s the prayer that God wants to hear from us too!

I linked to the homily because Frankie was relatively good at Mass today. That meant he sat under a table twice, tried touching two electric outlets, ran from the crying room three times, received many hand-outs from other parents, and tried to seize a cup of Eucharist from the Priest. You can imagine my experience at mass when the little prince has a bad day! Either way, it's difficult at times to pay attention to the Celebrant's homily. Thus, I'm grateful that Monsignor Clark, Ph.d. provides a daily homily at CE.

Seasoned readers of the Holy Fool know that I've struggled with balance when it comes to work and prayer. Too often I find myself either throwing myself into one or the other. The key, obviously, is to pray and work:

There’s so much in this world that needs fixing and changing, and we’re the ones that God made to do it. He’s spelled out his expectations for each of us by giving us life at a specific time and place and by giving us each a specific set of gifts. These are the tools for the special work that’s waiting for us in our families, our community, our church, and so many other places. That work won’t get done if we pray but don’t act. It also won’t get done if we act without praying first, because we’ll get caught up in our own agenda instead of God’s big vision.

There's a reason for both. How many of us talk with our collegues and co-workers while we work, if it's appropriate? Do we ever do one or the other? Sometimes. More often, I'll bet, we'll do both simultaneously. How about when we begin a new project at work? Don't we listen to the boss and then get to work? Of course! How would we know what to do if we did otherwise?

Work and prayer operate in our lives similar to work and talk at our jobs. God wants to hear from us and be heard by us. He also wants to work through us, which means we have to get off our duffs and do something. However, if all we do is talk and listen to him, he won't act through us. We won't be living incarnately as he would have us. If we get carried away, however, and act without checking in with him in prayer, we may wind up abusing our talents on some endevour he never meant for us to do.

Prayer and service are the legs we disciples need if we are to walk the talk of our Faith. Let's quit hopping around and start striding. The harvest is upon us, and the laborers are few. So let's pray that God sends more laborers. Then, let's stand and be counted. He and the world await us!