The harvest is abundant

Life on earth is a cycle of time and seasons.

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After the Deluge, the Lord declares, "All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Gn 8:22).Harvest time is a time to rejoice after the tedious task of sowing the seed and caring for the plant: "Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.

Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves" (Ps 126:5-6). At harvest time, the Israelites would make pilgrimage to God in Jerusalem to thank him for his providence.

While the harvest is often used to symbolize God's Last Judgment (Is 9:2-3; Hos 6:11), here, the harvest speaks of the beginnings.

The disciples are sent not to gather people for judgment but to proclaim the Good News of Jesus. The harvest at the end of the age, in which angels will be the harvesters, starts with the work of men and women.

Some will sow the seed and others will reap, but there is joy and reward for both as when people rejoice at harvest time.