Every year produce ripens on the vine or on the branch but rots uneaten because it is not harvested for lack of harvesters or because some minor blemish keeps it from being taken to the market. Too often Christians have looked away from the needs of our sisters and brothers because we did not want to get our hands dirty, because we were already too occupied with other needs or because we did not want to be exposed to the blemishes in our world, in our sisters and brothers or in ourselves. Perhaps we have been willing to send money, perhaps even very generously, so that other people could feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned and bury the dead, but when the sheep are separated from the goats will we be asked about the funds we sent or how we personally were involved in caring for those counted as among the least in our world?

Anthony Zaccaria knew it is God who saves the world. But he also knew that God seeks our cooperation in the building of his Kingdom. He knew that all of us, laity, religious and clergy, must work together to begin to tackle the harvest and all its problems and issues and divisions. Each of us must wrestle with God and what God calls us to do in order that our world might become a holier place where the face of God is more easily visible in us and in those we love in God's name.