Father Randy Koenigsknecht
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Fr. Jacob reflects on his first prison Mass experience and the deep hunger for God he witnessed there. Drawing from the Gospel, he reminds us that Jesus calls ordinary people to become laborers in His harvest by spending time with Him, developing hearts of compassion, and courageously sharing the faith with others.
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Yesterday, my heart was somewhat profoundly moved. On Saturday, for the first time, I went to the prison and I offered Mass for the men there. And there was about 12 men who came who were, you know, wanting to come to Mass.
And in them, I just saw a great hunger. I saw a longing for something more, kind of that more that, you know, I’ve been talking about these past weeks. There were men who acutely know, based on where they are, you know, what life is like without God, where that leads them, what that has done.
And there are men who are looking for that transformation, for what God can do with them. And they’re hungry and longing for Him. And how can it not move our hearts when we see someone who just yearns so desperately for what we have, for what we enjoy regularly? In the Gospel, Jesus’ heart is moved.
He’s moved with pity, with compassion for the people gathered before Him, because they’re like sheep without a shepherd, they’re lost, they’re abandoned. There’s exactly four times in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus’ heart is moved in this way. The very first time is there’s a crowd of people bringing out their sick, and His heart is moved and He begins to heal them.
The second time, it’s with two blind men. They’re sitting by the side of the road begging, and they call out to Him, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us, have pity on us. The crowd tries to silence them, and Jesus comes to them, what do you want me to do for you? And His heart is moved, and He heals them.
A third time, it’s when there’s the crowd that’s tired and hungry, and He feeds the 4,000. Then there’s this time, where He sees the crowd of people who are longing for God, who are looking for Him, but do not know where to find Him, they have no one to lead them. They have no one to help guide them, to show them where God can be found.
And we look at these things, we see what moves Jesus’ heart. Jesus’ heart is moved by pain, by suffering, the suffering of those who are sick, the suffering of those who are isolated, cut off from their community, by disability, whatever it may be, that moves Him to act. Jesus’ heart is moved by physical needs, by the needs of the people, the poor, those who are hungry, those who are desolate.
He’s moved by them. And Jesus’ heart is moved by those who want God, by those who long for more, by those who are searching, even though they may not know where to go. All those other times when Jesus’ heart is moved, He acts Himself.
He heals, He multiplies the food. But this time He does something different. No, He summons His twelve disciples.
And He gives them that iconic line, The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for His harvest. It’s one of the great truths of our faith, is that Jesus Christ needs men and women.
He needs us. Without laborers, there will be no harvest brought in. God likes to work through His people, work through His creation.
And so He chooses to rely on men and women, you and me. Laboring, of course, not by our own power and authority, but through the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit through which Jesus did all that He did. The same Spirit through which He cured the sick.
He healed them, He raised them up, He multiplied the bread. The same Spirit that gave Him that supernatural authority and power that He did have as a Son of God. Yes, but He chose to rely on that, the same Spirit that we’ve received.
And so Jesus, He takes the twelve and He picks them out. All right, you guys are going to be the ones that go out and do this now. Why these ones? Why those twelve? Why not anyone else? After all, it’s a rather eclectic group.
Four of them are fishermen. We’re not talking like the cream of the crop of the intellectual Jewish world back then. There’s nothing seemingly that outstanding about them.
The number one reason why Jesus picked them, He called and they actually responded. Throughout the Gospel we hear moments of people being called by Jesus and turning away. Think of the rich young man.
He answers Jesus all these questions and he’s following God and Jesus says, all right, you need one last thing. Give away all that you have and come after me, follow me. And he goes away sad and empty.
He wasn’t able to say yes. Think of the people in John 6. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life within you. And the crowd leaves.
They’re not going to have it. He tells the disciples, will you leave too? And what do they say? Lord, you have the words of everlasting life. To whom shall we go? So when Jesus called these 12, what happened? Well, Simon, Andrew, James, and John, they left their boats.
They left their nets, all of it behind. Matthew left his collection post. They were called and they actually responded.
And Jesus didn’t call them again because of how great they were. He called them because of who they could become when they spent time with him. Of who he could make them by his grace.
How he could transform them and work in them. He saw what they could be. The great apostles that we know.
And in their lives, we see this natural flow of discipleship that happens. It moves from spending time with Jesus, coming to know him. That’s the essential first stage, but that’s only the beginning.
And from there, when we know the Lord and we know who he is, we have his heart. We go out. And that’s what you see happening.
Jesus tells them, go. That’s why at the end of every Mass, at Mass, we receive the Lord. He comes so close to us in Scripture and through the bread and wine about to be offered on the altars.
Body and blood. He comes so close to us and the final line of Mass is always the same. Go out.
Proclaim the gospel. Glorify the Lord by your life. Because it’s not meant to stay here.
This is essential, but the mission is also essential to us. And we’re not full disciples if we’re not reaching out. If we’re not out sharing the Lord’s mission as well.
And so the disciples, they go out and they begin to do that. They proclaim the kingdom. And they prove their words.
They prove that the kingdom of God is present by doing the things that Jesus has done. By service, yes. But also by the miraculous.
By healing the sick. Raising the dead. Setting people free from their sins.
It’s always the combination. It requires words. We must proclaim and we’ve got to live it.
Both those things are necessary. Because God has chosen us. The minimum bar, you know, for being chosen by the Lord to go out is super low.
You guys have met it just by being here. Because you’ve proven that you at least have some desire for the Lord. Some desire to be with Him, to know Him.
And some desire for more. That means He has chosen you to go out and to bear fruit. To be a laborer in His kingdom.
Not because of how great you are. You guys are really awesome though. I would pick you anyways.
But because of what He can do in you. How He can change you. How He can transform you.
Yeah, there’s probably work to be done. Each of us has that. Some of you maybe even more work than you think is possible.
Trust in the Lord. We keep coming back to Him. We spend time with Him.
The disciples, it took three years of camping with Jesus. For them to finally be ready. To go out.
To really serve and to begin the church with Jesus. So it’s going to take time. Be with Him.
Live with Him. Come to Mass. Pray.
Develop that prayer life even more. Go to confession. All the basics of being a practicing Catholic.
I always encourage you if you’re intimidated, if you’re scared by that. I’ll just say this. If not you, then who? If not you, then who’s going to go to your family? Who’s going to proclaim the kingdom to them? Who will speak the words of Jesus in your workplace? In Jackson? In your school? A couple weeks ago we had a lady start coming to our church.
Because one of our parishioners when he was at the gas station, she works there. Somehow it got started. He invited her to Mass.
And she’s been coming to Mass ever since. I can’t go to all the gas stations in Jackson. I need you guys.
If not you, then who will go? The Lord has chosen you. He’s called you. And He will prepare you.
So if He’s called us, He’s chosen us to go out. To be laborers for the harvest. What do we got to do? How do we get there? Three things.
First is very simple. Be with Jesus. Live with Him.
Be like the disciples who spent three years. So this means, like I said, come to Mass. Develop your prayer life.
Grow to the point of praying every day. Come to confession a couple times a year at least. You know, small ways of just receiving the Lord’s grace.
Of walking with Him. Second, pray for a heart like His. A heart that is moved by the people around us.
The Gospels are filled with that pattern. Jesus sees, He is moved, and He acts. Evangelization, service, our mission.
It’s nothing else than embodied compassion. Loving the person in front of me enough not to leave them where they are. Being so moved by their situation, I have to do something.
I have to speak. I have to act. If you don’t have that, ask for it.
The Lord can give that to you. He can make your heart like His. And the third is very practical.
It’s practice. It is intimidating to ask someone to go to Mass with you. It can be very scary to share with someone why you like being Catholic.
Why you go to Mass on Sunday. Even the simple things, simple parts of our faith. So practice it.
You know, go through in your own head. Why do I believe this? You know, what would that situation look like? Find a friend. Your spouse.
Hey, can I run this by you? Hey, I want to try this out. And actually do it. Explain to them why you like being Catholic.
Why they should go to Mass. Or why you go to Mass. You don’t even need to say why they should go.
Just say why you do. That’s all you got to do. Because if you have that practice in, when the moment actually comes, you might do something.
Otherwise, you’re always scrambling. What do I say? What do I do? What do I need? But practice it. Rehearse.
Learn from one another. Simply by sharing your faith, you will also grow in your faith. By hearing their stories and them hearing yours.
They confirm them. They make them more alive. So look for that person who you can practice that with.
A friend. A spouse. Family member.
It doesn’t matter. But look for that opportunity to share what Christ has done for you. How he’s transformed your life.
So you can love the people around you enough to share with them those same truths. And know that I’m praying for you in this. When Jesus says pray for, you know, labors for the harvest, to me it’s not just praying for priests.
It’s praying for you guys. The labors here in Jackson, there’s only, what, five priests here? Maybe six. I’m not good at math.
Don’t do math on the fly. But that means praying for you guys who are going to do so much of the leg work. You’re going to do all this preparation going out.
And so I pray that the Lord prepare you to be those labors, to be generous in giving your hearts and giving yourselves to this community and loving them enough to act.