The Christian call of collaboration

In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples to ask the “Master” (God the Father) of the “harvest” (conversion to Christ) to send out more “laborers” (evangelizers). And in the next breath, he tells them that they are the laborers and that they must get busy: “Go on your way,” he says.

When you think of evangelizers in the Catholic Church, who comes to mind first? Most of us think of priests, and we all know that we need more priests. New vocations in Western societies are still way too few to compensate for the elderly ones who are retiring and dying.

Do you pray for an increase of vocations? Good, but that’s only part of what Jesus is asking us to do. “Go on your way,” he says to all of us, “and use your gifts, your talents, and your skills to assist in the harvest.

Jesus has always been collaborative. The number of laborers for the mission of the Church will only be sufficient when we all join the effort — clergy, religious, and laity — working together with our separate and unique talents and skills, humbly assisting each other as members of the same team.

To reach this sufficiency, many of us have to overcome the “someone else will take care of it” attitude. And some have to overcome the desire for perfection, the “I can take care of it better myself” attitude, which robs others of the opportunity to serve.

Many of us need to overcome the fear of losing control, the “I must tell others how to do their job” attitude, which chases away some very talented laborers. Jesus said we should carry no supplies into ministry; in other words: We should accept whatever is offered to us.

Our prayers for an increase of consecrated vocations are answered from within collaborative ministry. Clergy and religious are called to be good role models, which will attract new vocations, but the laity are called to serve God with the same zeal and holiness that we expect from priests, because out of families who serve come the holy priests and religious who serve.

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