14th Sunday-C

14th Sunday-C "The harvest is plentiful..."
Once I was talking to someone saying how Benjamin Franklin opened the first post office in Halifax, Canada in 1753. Once he said, "In wine, there is truth; in beer, there is freedom and in water, there is bacteria. Then I said, "The only thing that duct tape can not fix is men". He said, "What about women?" .  "Women can fix any man in no time".
Once a priest was so frustrated because he could not collect enough money to fix the roof, so he said, "Every one in this parish will go to hell...." And one man in the back began to laugh. The priest said it again, "If you do not change your ways, every one in the parish will go to hell..." The man at the back began to laugh lauder. So the priest looked at him and asked him, "Why?" He said, "I do not belong to this parish. I am just a visitor". We do not consider anyone being visitor here, you are all parishioners.
Dear friends in Christ, in today's gospel Christ our Lord says, 'The harvest is plentiful but the laborors are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers into His harvest".
But today we meet with two groups of people; people who are worried about the church saying, "People don't come to church anymore...The people who are coming to church are getting older". The truth is more than 95 percent of the people do believe in God. What happened to people, when 9/11 happened? So many people came back to Church and many stayed behind and are still practicing their faith. The harvest is plentiful. We don't need to be afraid of people not coming to Church.
Once in a Oklohoma church, a minister tried his best to bring people to church but week after week...the church was losing people. At one point, he put an ad in the local news paper saying, "Our Church is dead and there will be a special funerel on Sunday afternoon and all the members and others are invited". People could not believe the ad and theyd wanted to know what was going on, so they all came. After the funerel celebration for the dead church, he opened the coffin and invited all to pay their last respect. Everyone was curious to see what was in the coffin and everyone who looked inside was so shocked. Because in the coffin, he placed a big Mirror.
Once somebody said to me, "O Father, you are so nice to us..." And I said, "Yes, of course, You are so wonderful and I am so happy to see you and once you settle down, then I will make you feel guilty and miserable".  Once somebody asked a woman, "Do you ever wake up grumpy?" She said, "No, I just let him sleep".
The harvest is plentiful. Today we have more than billion people experiencing the love, kindness and forgiveness of God almighty. Today more than billing people believe in Christ the only Son of God. There are so many people coming to know Christ personally and do practice their faith.
Once a priest asked John Paul the Second, "Your Holiness, what should we do to increase vocation to priesthood...we do not have many priests?" Do you know what he said? He said, "Live your own vocation joyfully..." Yes, when we celebrate our coming to Church and practicing our faith, the others may be influenced and do come to Church.
The other church where I was hundred years ago, I used to see people after Mass looking contipated... so unhappy.
Once as a man was retiring from his job, the boss said, 'you were a very good builder and you did everything well. Before your retirement, I want you to build one last house for me. The man was not happy but accepted and did not use all his skills. He used cheap materials and did not take enough time to go through things. Anyhow he finished building the house and gave the key to the boss and said, "Now let me go". The boss then said, "This key belongs to you and as an appreciation of your hard work, I would like to give you this house to you".
As we step into this Church, we all become laborers of His field. The harvest is plentiful and it is up to us to go out and gather the harvest...So everything that we do, let us do for the glory of God.
And there is another group of people who keep saying, " Why are these people coming to Church? They should not be here and so on. Once a man came to me and said, "Father, that family should not sit in the front pew."  And I asked, "why?" Do you know what he said. He said, "They look always happy". We do not like humour, joy and fun in  Church. Bur everytime you come... the priest says, "To celebrate the Holy Mass..." We would like to celebrate Mass but like to be sad.
Once a rich man announced saying, "If any one swims across my swimming pool which is filled with sharks and allagators, I will give you anything you want". By then a man jumped in the pool and was smimming as fast as he could avoiding the sharks and allegators and reached the otherside safely. The rich man looked at him and said, "you did well...my son. Now ask me anything you want, I will give you. I promise I will give you" The man said, "More than anything, I want to know who pushed me into the water".
Sad laborors never reap a good harvest and that is why once St. Teresa of Avila said, "A sad nun is a bad nun...I am afraid of one sad nun than a legion of devils".
We could easily feel low thinking that the harvest is plentiful and what can I do by myself. Today the great sin of the church is the sin of silence. We have to share our faith-story with one another. If we make a small change in one person's life, that will bring life in many like that little boy who was throwing  a star fish into the ocean and when he was asked what he was doing he said, "I am making a difference". People laoughed at him saying, "there are so many starfish on the shore and how can you make a difference. For that he took a small starfish throwing into the sea said, "I make a difference for this small one..." we should always remember that only a little drop of water makes a mighty ocean.
We are here to share the joy of the gospel with one another. We are His laborors. Intead of saying that the church is getting old and dying, instead of saying, these people and those people should not come to church, let us focus on Christ the Messiaha who says that the Harvest is plentiful, therefore let us go into the field and spread the good news of salvation. Amen.