Pray Accordingly

Today’s Gospel Text: After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to come. 2 And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon him; but if not, it shall return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages; do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; 9 heal the sick in it and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' Luke 10:1-9

Reflection: The present global recession has created a demand supply glut of laborers in the market place. Many are jobless and even though they are professionally qualified, some on account of the pink slip they have got due to poor business or loss by the company in which they have worked.

Not all these unemployed can be employed even by governments and private enterprises any where. There are so many factors to look into before employing any of these workers.

Similarly, in God’s vineyard there may be many workers or laborers who may be willing to work, some well qualified and others not so qualified but the prerogative belongs to God to send them in his vineyard.

Just as the employer would direct his Human resource department to appoint and send appropriate workers to particular departments similarly we are called upon to pray to God to send laborers into this vineyard.

Hence there may be many volunteers willing to work for God and are willing to offer themselves in service to the Lord, yet it is the Lord who ultimately sends them forth into his vineyard to labour and work.

“Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (vs. 2)

One of the most unfortunate part of our prayer to God has been our blindness not to see the harvest as plentiful. He who directed us to pray also opens our eyes to see that which can only be seen in faith; a plentiful harvest.

Do we see the harvest which the Lord directs us to see? What is that harvest to us?Maybe we just pray for the laborers to be sent into the harvest.

Here the farmer sees his empty land, but looking at the soil and availability of water he sees a plentiful harvest in faith and makes preparation to employ laborers to till the land first so as to sow the seed. It is that which doesn’t exist now but yet surely belongs to the farmer.

Likewise, do we a see the plentiful harvest that Jesus is showing us and then pray accordingly as true servants of his?

Prayer:  Lord, help us see and identify the kind of harvest and pray accordingly for harvest

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

How to Pray?

Today’s Gospel:  "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come.Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread; 12 And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; 13 And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matt 6:7-15

Reflection:  ‘Comparison of religions in multi-religious society’, and Jesus does just that!

The Gentile way of doing things and the way his followers are supposed to do things would be different. Since their concept of God is different.  One has to appease the gods the other has to only turn to the God who cares with sincere prayer from the heart.  

Why should his followers not do things differently? Jesus clearly indicates to us that if we pray the right way God will hear our prayers; for he has revealed to us who God is. He is our Father and he cares for us. May be we may not pray the Lord's prayer which Jesus taught us but it is a model prayer for his disciple to follow and base their prayers on.  


The Greatest truth about who God is and what one should do to please him so that he or she is heard is contained in the Lord’s Prayer.

It is important to mention here the Catholic Rosary prayer, since the many so called wise consider the Rosary to fall in the category of what Jesus is saying in the gospel.  They have got it all wrong.

The Rosary is primarily a contemplative prayer, aimed at contemplating the mystery of Christ as revealed in scripture and tradition.  This labour of contemplation could then be offered for the salvation of souls and thus it becomes an intercessory prayer too. All this action is worth twice and multiplied, because we have the Most Holy presence with Mary as our mother with us as we pray it.  

Yet as in any prayers we could approach God in the wrong sense and pray as if they are magic formulae’s.  Similarly, we may not be praying the Rosary as it is supposed to be prayed and thus loose out on its many blessings.

Prayer:  Thy will be done!

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us