St. Luke, The Harvest is Plentiful, but the Laborers are Few...It is Finished!

I decided to write my blog one day early because tomorrow my wife and I will be flying to Calgary to attend the Canadian Physicians for Life conference. I am looking forward to it. I feel a strong need to equip myself to depend life in this culture of death. And as my wife told me - she needs camaraderie to stand up for human life and dignity.

It turns out that today is the Feast of St. Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Here is a nice bio about him:
"St. Luke the Evangelist (1st c.) was a well-educated Greek physician and a native of Antioch in Syria. He was one of the earliest converts to Christianity, believed to have been one of Jesus' seventy disciples. He was a follower of St. Paul the Apostle and spent most of his life evangelizing with him in Asia Minor up until the time of Paul's martyrdom in Rome. Luke wrote a canonical account of his apostolic journeys with Paul (the Book of Acts) as well as a biography on the life of Christ (the Gospel of Luke). The two books of Luke's Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles were originally a single work. The intimate accounts contained in Luke's gospel of the early years of Christ's life (the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation, etc.) lead many scholars to believe that one of the eyewitnesses he interviewed was the Blessed Virgin Mary herself. According to tradition he was also a skilled artist and painted the first icons of Our Lady with the Child Jesus. Several of these icons are still venerated today, the most famous of which hangs in the Church of St. Mary Major in Rome. St. Luke is the patron saint of many trades including artists, painters, doctors, surgeons, and bachelors. His feast day is October 18th."

And today's scripture reading is, of course, from his gospel:
"After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’" (Luke 10:1-9)

Note that some translations say seventy-two disciples sent (NIV, Mounce). This explanation from GotQuestions.org is very helpful. It further details Jesus' instructions to the 70:
1) Go (Luke 10:3). This is foundational. The 70 were to divide into pairs and visit all the places where Jesus was about to go.
2) Be wary (Luke 10:3). The 70 were like lambs among wolves, surrounded by danger.
3) Live by faith (Luke 10:4). The 70 were to carry no extra provisions. They carried the message of Jesus and didn’t need to be burdened down with material things.
4) Be focused (Luke 10:4). The 70 were to greet no one along the road and not allow themselves to be sidetracked from the more important mission of evangelism.
5) Extend your blessing (Luke 10:5–6). Whoever housed the 70 were to be blessed, using the common greeting of the day, “Peace to this house.”
6) Be content (Luke 10:7). The 70 were told not to seek better accommodations; they were to stay in the home that first received them.
7) Receive your due (Luke 10:7). The laborer is worthy of his wages (cf. 1 Timothy 5:17–18). Doing evangelistic work is indeed work and is worthy of compensation.
8) Be flexible (Luke 10:7–8). The 70 were to eat whatever their hosts served; as God’s servants, they were not to be finicky.
9) Heal the sick (Luke 10:9). Jesus gave the 70 disciples specific authority to heal diseases and illness. It was as if the Great Physician had 70 interns making house calls. When the 70 returned to Jesus, they jubilantly recounted how they were able not only to heal diseases but to cast out demons as well (verse 17).
10) Proclaim the kingdom (Luke 10:9). The message of the 70 disciples was simple: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” This was a clear-cut call to faith in the King who would soon visit each village.

Pope St Gregory the Great wrote this homily "The Lord follows his preachers". I think the last paragraph is my application for this passage of scripture, especially in light of the scandals of the church lately:
"Think over, my beloved brothers, think over his words: Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. Pray for us so that we may be able to labor worthily on your behalf, that our tongue may not grow weary of exhortation, that after we have taken up the office of preaching our silence may not bring us condemnation from the just judge."

To do this regularly I set my watch two regular alarms:
(1) At 10:02am every day it reminds me of Luke 10:2 "He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.". This is accompanied by a notification from Operation World, which sends out a daily message of a country in the world for which I am praying. So today (Oct 18) I pray for  Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tomé & Principe.
(2) At 3:00pm - I pause to give thanks! Again, GotQuestions.org has this to say: "Of the last sayings of Christ on the cross, none is more important or more poignant than, “It is finished.” Found only in the Gospel of John, the Greek word translated “it is finished” is tetelestai, an accounting term that means “paid in full.” When Jesus uttered those words, He was declaring the debt owed to His Father was wiped away completely and forever. Not that Jesus wiped away any debt that He owed to the Father; rather, Jesus eliminated the debt owed by mankind—the debt of sin."

Lord God, you chose Saint Luke to reveal the mystery of your love for the poor in his preaching and his writings. Grant that those who already acknowledge your name may continue to be one in mind and heart, and that all the nations may see your salvation.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.