A Jesuit Catholic University
in Omaha, Nebraska, since 1878

[661] 2 Timothy 4:9-17b Psalm 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 17-18 Luke 10:1-9.

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

Luke 10:2: “He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.’”

It truly is fascinating, how much truth can be found within just one sentence from the Word of God. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus observes: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” As a result, he instructs his disciples (before sending them out in pairs) to “ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Notice that the help for those struggling out in the fields comes straight from the master – one only needs to ask, and it will come.

The greatest marvel of the modern world is just how stubborn we can be. For some reason, we like to tackle our problems on our own, thinking that we don’t need any help, that there are things we need to do alone, that in asking for help we look weak or end up annoying somebody. And so, we become bogged down by the combined weight of our problems and our pride, having sunk so far beneath the surface that nobody else even knows that we are suffering. This worker is alone, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It just takes one short prayer, and we are no longer alone: “Lord, help me.” Then comes the more difficult part of letting go, of surrendering our problems, of forgoing our pride in order to let him help us. But, when we give ourselves over to God, we find that living in tandem with the Lord is unbelievably greater than living alone. Let us open up our souls and give our hearts and our problems and everything that we have to God!

A perfect prayer for the week after Mid-Term Examinations at Creighton University, and an excellent prayer for this day in scripture: the Serenity Prayer.

God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Amen.