Camp buddy. I first heard this term when I joined our summer youth camp several years (and kilos) ago. Buddies are expected to be together all the time—at the session hall, during outdoor tasks, and even in-between activities. It’s to make sure everyone is safe, well, and involved throughout the camp. They’re each other’s accountability partner. Personally, having a buddy encouraged me to be mindful and considerate of my actions.

Now that I am older (and bigger), I’m grateful I found my lifetime buddy—my wife. We talk about our struggles, worries, and anything under the sun. I’m not ashamed to show her my tears and fears. We encourage one another while also holding each other accountable when needed. We accompany and pray for each other in our lowest and highest moments. As the years go by, it’s clearer to me that marriage is also a mission field where we can serve and glorify God together.

Life is more purposeful when we journey with people who support and guide us to Christ. Have you found your accountability buddies yet? 

Ericson T. Trinidad (erix.trinidad@gmail.com)

reflect

“Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

Father, thank You for the people You sent to bring me closer to You. 

Saint Luke, evangelist, pray for us.

Rich Harvest, Poor Reapers

My father was a farmer by vocation but an accountant by avocation. What he tried to pass on to us was what he loved most—planting coffee, and in his later years as a retiree in the U.S., planting tomatoes, eggplants, and other vegetables, even roses and flowering plants in the relatively big backyard of two older sisters in Pennsylvania and California.

One thing about harvest time is that, once ready, it could not wait. For 

example, when the papayas go mature, one has little window of time to harvest them and bring them to the market. Papayas are not meant to mature in the tree. So do luscious and juicy chicos. They are best when ripened not on the tree but in a warm, dark, dank repository.

Once harvest time comes, there is no time to lose. It is all hands on deck, so to speak. Harvest time needs plenty of reapers and gatherers. Harvesters know they need to work hard and fast.

The Lord reminds us that the harvest is rich. The laborers, though, are few. But His conclusion is counterintuitive. He does not ask for more laborers, but He asks us to pray to the Harvest Master to send more laborers into His harvest.

That hits me hard. In my result-oriented frame of mind, once I identify a problem, I immediately set out to find a solution. The apparent problem is lack of laborers. I see it. Every day. Everywhere. More than ever. And like most people, I mistakenly believe that the solution to the problem is ours to give. I forget that I am not the Lord of the Harvest. I do not call the shots. I am just called to serve, to minister, to shepherd in His name. 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection questions

Have you been regularly praying to the Harvest Master for more laborers into His vineyard? Consider this: no priests, no sacraments. Do you want this to happen in the future generations? 

Lord of the Harvest, send out more workers into Your harvest field. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _____________________________________