MEMORIAL MASS
‘The Harvest Is Abundant’ IN SPITE OF the opposition of the Phari-
Photo by Aaron Joseph
sees, Jesus went about towns and villages teaching the crowds, proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the afflicted. As he encountered the misery of the crowds, their physical and spiritual disorders, Matthew tells us that he was “moved with pity”; he felt their suffering viscerally. Feeling their suffering in the depth of his heart, Jesus loved them as only God can, and desired only to enlighten them with faith, brighten them with hope and allow them to taste at least something of his Father’s boundless love. The Good Shepherd’s love filled the heart of St. John Vianney and Blessed Michael McGivney. Good priests that they were, they were living extensions of Christ’s ministry. Like Jesus, they experienced the sufferings of their people in the depth of their hearts,
and acting in the person of Christ, offered to them his healing touch. As they proclaimed the word of God, they turned minds and hearts from sin and error. As they extended their hands in sacramental absolution, they healed souls of sin. As they offered holy Mass, they nourished starving souls with the body of Christ. … In the Lord’s name and in his person, they gathered the harvest — not a harvest of wheat or barley but rather a harvest of charity, a harvest of good and loving deeds accomplished in the grace of the Holy Spirit. A harvest of charity: This is what the Lord wishes to reap from each one of us. … In the Gospel, Jesus said, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few” (Mt 9:37). Founded by a holy priest, the Knights ardently promotes priestly vocations and helps our priests to be faithful and generous in living their vocation. On this feast of St. John Vianney, let us pray for an increase in priestly vocations: priests
of goodness, virtue and pastoral love, after the mind and heart of our Savior. This is also a good moment for us as Knights to recognize that the Lord is calling us to help gather his harvest of charity and love by practicing what St. John Paul II called “a charity that evangelizes” — a charity that flows from prayer, a charity that is so rooted in the person of Christ that it leads many into the heart of the Gospel — wins them over — whether they are practicing Catholics, Catholics who have left, or simply those searching for truth and meaning in their lives. Just as the Knights, as a lay organization, has always worked closely with the clergy, so let us be good partners with our bishops and priests in the new evangelization, confident that we are supported by the prayers of Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Joseph, St. John Vianney and Blessed Michael McGivney. — Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Homily, Memorial Mass, Feast of St. John Vianney, Aug. 4
Archbishop Lori, joined by Archbishop Blair and the Supreme Officers, leads the congregation in praying the Litany of Blessed Michael McGivney. OCTOBER 2021 B C O L U M B I A
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