As I read today’s gospel, I came across the statement, “And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” I remembered a song we used to sing in the seminary.
There’s a call comes ringing over the restless wave “Send the light! Send the light!” There are souls to rescue there are souls to save Send the light! Send the light! Send the light, the blessed Gospel light, Let it shine from shore to shore! Send the light, the blessed Gospel light. Let it shine forevermore!
As a result, each time we sang this song, I imagined a multitude of souls trapped in dungeons of sin and godlessness. I pictured people racing to perdition. I thought about those laboring under different forms of yoke of the evil one without relief. The vision St. Paul had in Troas came to mind. He saw “a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (Acts 16:9). These thoughts and the feelings that accompanied them helped greatly to start me off as a soldier in the army the Lord has continued to gather for himself.
Need for Missions
If one looks carefully at the state of our world today, it is clear that many people are still “harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.” There are still souls to rescue. And souls to save. The Lord has not grown weary in fighting for the salvation of these souls. He still recruits soldiers into his army for this mission. “So ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest.” In the book of Isaiah, the Lord asked, “whom shall I send? And who will go for us” (6:8). Who is ready to go fishing for the Lord, to be a fisher of men? Jesus does not demand much from many who would accept to join this army. He asks them to participate in this mission through prayer like St. Theresa, the little flower. The Lord is gathering an army of intercessors.
Further, Jesus is concerned that there are are many lost sheep out there, people who need the Lord. Many do not even know they are lost. Yet, they are out there in sin and their souls are in eternal danger. There are also many defenseless captives of the evil one, who suffer without respite. Equally, there are souls calling over the restless waves for light without intervention. The Lord needs men and women who can send the light of the gospel across to millions of hopeless souls. Light in the cold and dark and bring salvation through the ministry of intercession.
Satan at Work
When there are no intercessors, the devil will have his great opportunity to do evil. Furthermore, the number of souls, marked for damnation, increases exponentially. I sense a high, powerful satanic machinery operating presently. It has the utmost decisiveness to restructure the world and hoist its pillars on revolting abominations. Pope Leo XII would say, “the partisans of evil seem to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence.” As a result, many powerful nations and people seem to be leading humanity into destruction by the policies and laws they sponsor. They surreptitiously force weaker nations to adopt the same diabolical principles that despise God. And disdain the ancient pact between humanity and its maker. This is why the clarion call to prayer is more urgent than ever.
Finally, through the ministry of intercession, men and women of faith are called to rise up to the present occasion. They are enjoined through this means to confront and disband the furious army of the underworld. And to depopulate hell and help people to heaven to the glory of God. Certainly, you are invited to join this sacred mission of spending passionate tears of supplication for lost and burdened souls. And for a world lacerated by evil.
[Readings: Gn 32:23-33; Ps 17:1b, 2-3, 6-7ab, 8b and 15;Mt 9:32-38]
