Harvesters Needed!

In the Gospel today, Jesus tells us that the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few. This means that there are lots of people out there who want to enter the Kingdom of God and become Catholic but very few have the courage to actually share their faith.
              The fear comes from the fact that there are many who will be hostile to our Catholic faith. Jesus warns His disciples and us: "I am sending you like lambs among wolves." Sharing our faith with others leaves our hearts very vulnerable since our faith is that which is most dear to our hearts. The good news Jesus tells us is that even if we share our faith and are rejected our peace will return to us. However, Jesus very much realizes how much it can hurt when someone does not share our faith or worse even ridicules us for our belief. He advises his disciples to wipe off even the dust of our feet from their town as a testimony against their unbelief. If you allow someone to ridicule you, belittle you, or make fun of you for your faith for too long, eventually, you will start to lose your peace. You can tell rather early on within a conversation whether or not a person is prejudiced against Christianity or Catholicism. They lean back a bit, they may cross their arms, or they might take in a deep breath. If they do not welcome the conversation, change the subject quickly to a different topic and be pleasant. Your peace will return to you. However, you need to guard your heart.
Then, seek to listen to the other person and try to understand what is most important in their lives. If the person feels listened to, they will feel loved. And if they feel loved by a Catholic, they may be more open to talking about the Catholic faith in the future.
 
God bless,
Fr. Scott