Not sure who needs to know this, but here’s a great household tip.
If you’re wanting to rid your thatch-roofed hut of rats, mice and other pests, simply toss a couple of boa constrictors onto the floor, lock the front door, go on a long trip, and let the snakes do their thing.
I actually heard just such a story yesterday – from a priest who’d spent over 30 years as a missionary in Madagascar. The village where he served was so remote that the people there had never even seen a light bulb. So calling on the local Terminix tech, to dispatch the vermin? Yeah, that was never going to happen.
Boas, on the other hand, were plentiful. And they worked for free. Best of all, when the work was done, the snakes would slither on out looking elsewhere for their next meal – while leaving the hut entirely pest-free.
I’ve long been fascinated by such tales of life-hacks played out in foreign lands. Or more accurately, I’ve been terrified by them.
As a teen, I toyed with the notion of becoming a foreign missionary…but realized I’m enough of a home-boy that I could never see myself personally courting that level of adventure – so far away from the comfort of family and friends. While I’m certainly blessed to learn of any missionary’s work, I decided long ago not to join them.
But here’s something else I’m realizing of late: Even if you decide you’re not cut out to be a foreign missionary, Jesus doesn’t exactly let you off the hook. In today’s gospel passage, he teaches “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Sure, there’s work to be done in Madagascar. But not only there. Maybe even not mostlythere. The kingdom is here, right in front of you – and more to the point, the Lord has posted a Help Wanted sign:
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Not only does Christ call for help, but he equips his workers too, “[giving] them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out, and to cure every disease and every illness.”
The bottom line is this: On some level, our job as disciples is to look at the world around us through Christ’s eyes – to see it with eyes of mercy and compassion. And then having seen a need, to take on our role as one of Christ’s unlikely exterminators.
There’s a little bit of “boa constrictor” in each of us, Christ seems to say. So, go ahead:
“Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 