Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for - Sunday, June 14, 2026

Last Monday, I flew to New York to visit my 94-year-old dad in the hospital.  I feared that his illness would not end well.  However, as he grew increasingly restless in the hospital, he became more determined to spend his final days here with his son, grandson, and great grandson. He willed himself out of the hospital and on to a plane. I truly admire his determination! In today’s Gospel, Jesus is speaking about needing that same kind of relentless determination to recruit enough “laborers” to get His Word to the “lost sheep” of Israel.  He cannot rest, and cannot allow his disciples to rest, until there are more laborers tending to the sheep.

While I was in New York, I ran the streets of Staten Island where I grew up and noticed the large number of Catholic Churches. As Staten Island grew during the early and middle parts of the 20^th Century, each neighborhood, and each ethnic group within that neighborhood, had its own Catholic church, school, and a minimum of three priests. While the population of Staten Island has doubled, there are now fewer parishes and substantially fewer priests. In fact, the entire Archdiocese of New York ordained only two priests this year.  The harvest is indeed “abundant,” but, unfortunately, the laborers are few. Here in the Diocese of Orange, the story is much brighter, but the need for laborers remains significant.  We must never cease asking the master of the harvest to send more laborers.

When Jesus instructs us to “ask,” He means that we should pray.  Prayer is His answer to the problem of a great harvest and few laborers. We must remember only God can give the increase. We can do all the planting and watering we want but God is the one who provides the growth. Prayer is a critically important step. Prayer is the first way that we participate in evangelism in our church.

The other critical step is to go.  He sends His disciples to the lost sheep to tend to their needs.  The are transformed from followers to leaders, from spectators to participants.  When we pray for an increase in laborers, we must also consider that Jesus may be calling us, or those we love, to be laborers in the harvest as priests or religious sisters or brothers. 

Fr. Mike