It is not good when a person wants to do everything himself and thinks that only he has the “patent” on his mind and knows everything best. Such a person will not achieve much. It would be much better if he could share the work with others, thus giving them responsibility for their actions. Jesus Christ himself assures us that these words are valid. He, although the Son of God, did not rely solely on his strength and abilities, but wanted to share his power and make others responsible for proclaiming the Gospel. That is why he chose 12 disciples. He devoted himself to them for three years, teaching and educating them. Today’s Gospel adds that in addition to them, he chose 72 other disciples and commissioned them to prepare the ground for him wherever he was headed. Jesus’s ascension of the apostles soon led them to discover that they were also not enough for everything. Therefore, they chose deacons so that they too would have the responsibility of proclaiming the Gospel. Once the bloody persecution of Christians occurred, it became clear that every Christian was responsible for proclaiming the Gospel, wherever he was. We would certainly be wrong to think that today only bishops and priests have this responsibility. Of course, they cannot personally preach the gospel to everyone. You, dear brothers and sisters, are here for this task. Jesus entrusts you, just like the 72 disciples, to bear witness to Jesus in the world in which you live and to advertise him well.
Surely none of us doubts the need for good advertising. Traders, builders, athletes, and artists are aware of this. Advertising is necessary for the work to succeed. Therefore, when advertising is needed in this field, how much more is it also required in the spiritual field? You may be surprised to ask: „ Should I put posters?“ You know, it’s also sometimes necessary. Still, above all, the most important thing is that we recognize that we are merely a poster, a television screen, or a radio receiver. We are to show Christ to this world in our daily lives. II also talks beautifully about our mission. Vatican Council. He follows on from the words of Jesus that we heard in today’s Gospel: „ The harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest!“ In the Constitution, he talks about the Church as follows: „ All lay people are burdened with today’s obligation to work so that the calcific intentions of God are increasingly realized everywhere in the world, on all people of all times.“ The same is emphasized in the decree On the Apostolate of the Laity with these words: „ Every believer, therefore has a noble duty to work so that all people throughout the world know and accept the divine message of salvation.“ These words of the Council are confirmed by the apostle Paul, who writes to the Corinthians: „ If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, it is my duty and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.“
So we must proclaim Christ’s good news with word and life, thus preparing the way for the coming of Christ. This mission of ours should start primarily in the family and spread through its members to the environment in which they live, work, and in short, move. After all, how can one who cannot Christianize his own family be a good Christian? How can one who cannot bring his husband, wife, and children to faith be a good Christian? We don’t need studies or excellent knowledge for this. After all, the parents of great saints were illiterate people. Let’s remember the mothers of Maria Goretti and Ján Bosco. Although they could neither read nor write, they were able to instill faith in the children because they were true apostles. God came first in their lives. Unfortunately, this is missing in many families. The father or mother has limited knowledge of religion and makes little effort to apply it in life. But at the same time, they will claim to be Christian spouses. How can a father evangelize, about whom a child said on religion that, when asked how many Gods there are, answered: „ In every corner full basket!“ Should a child inherit faith from such a person? What will he inherit? Mockery, hatred, atheism. Or a certain little girl tearfully says that she will no longer go to church because her mother disagrees with it. How does this mother prepare an environment for God in the child’s soul? No way! The spirit of the apostolate is missing here. And so we could go through all areas of our lives. We are to be apostles everywhere. God himself calls us to it. How do I respond to this call of God? Am I his apostle? Can it be seen on me? How did I evangelize and evangelize my family, workplace, school, neighbors, and friends?
In the Gospels, God acts as a householder who hires workers for the harvest and the vineyard. He wants to hire us, too. However, it depends on each individual’s reaction. But do we realize what consequences it can have if we refuse this invitation? To better understand this, let’s imagine it’s already after the harvest or vintage, and God issues rewards. I stand in line and wait. The last one in front of me just got what belonged to him. Now it’s my turn. I stand face to face with God. He’s looking at me. He doesn’t understand why I’m here.
