The Dark Harvest     

As my son, Henry, and I were returning from a seminar on “The harvest is ripe, but the laborers few” (Mt.9:35-38 NAB), he asked me, “What about the Dark Harvest, Dad?” “What do you mean, son? What is a Dark Harvest and where did you hear that term? I’ve never heard it before.”

“Well,” he said, “I see it as an extension of the lesson we studied tonight at the church. ‘The harvest is ripe, and the laborers are few,’ which means that our Lord is recruiting workers to bring souls to Christ. From what I learned tonight it seems that the workers, the laborers, are those Christians in a state of grace who have consented to labor for Jesus, giving their time, effort, and energy to bringing souls to Christ. This type of labor is not the same as ‘cold calling’ like telemarketers calling random numbers, playing a numbers game, and scoring one out of a hundred for a’ yes’ or ‘I’ll buy it’. No, the harvest is not like that. It is ripe, and that means people are ready to accept Christ, they only need someone to show them how.”

I nodded, and Henry continued, “Since the Protestant reformation the ‘How’ has been answered in Protestant circles by taking Jesus into your heart and believing that he is the son of God. Don’t get me wrong. This swift approach is all well and good, and it is certainly a step in the right direction, but it is not enough to sustain a relationship between us and God. Most people are too weak in faith and the ‘bond’ between us and God is easily broken, like the seed that falls on rocky soil, which has no roots and does not last (Matthew 13: 4-6).

“When Jesus said: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock, I shall build my church,’ (Matthew 16: 18, NAB). He wasn’t giving us just a place to worship. No, he was (and is) giving us a way to believe and a path to follow that leads to salvation. He was giving us structure, instruction, and guidance to bring us into the Kingdom of God. He gives himself to us in the Eucharist, and he created the other sacraments to strengthen our faith and keep us ‘on the right road’; he gave us a way to follow that leads to heaven.

“So, the work of the laborers is not difficult or frustrating because ‘the harvest is ripe’ which means that many souls are ready to repent of their sins, change their lives, and join the community of believers. They just need someone who knows the way to pray for them and guide them towards Jesus. ‘The harvest is ripe;’ they are ready to accept God’s grace. So, take them to Church, explain to them that they must repent, be baptized, and strengthen their Faith continuously through the sacraments available through the Holy Catholic Church.”

I listened to my son, he was long-winded and very enthusiastic about his synopsis. But I had to ask him, “Henry, what does all this have to do with the ‘Dark Harvest’ that you mentioned earlier?”

“Dad, don’t you understand that if there is a ripe harvest for souls to enter God’s Kingdom, then in all probability there is also a harvest for other souls who are candidates to enter Satan’s kingdom of sin, deceit, betrayal, hedonism, selfishness, his world of pomp, pride, and lies and deceit which leads to the gates of Hell, from whence there is no return.

“Our part is to be aware (and understand) that just as God has his workers recruiting souls for heaven, Satan has his workers (not always wearing masks of evil) recruiting souls for hell. And that is what I mean, Dad, by the Dark Harvest. The world is changing don’t you see? We are entering an era of choosing to follow a path to heaven or a path to hell. The vast gray area is quickly disappearing. We are in an era of decision. Wasn’t that the point of tonight’s seminar,   to choose, for all of us to decide who we serve and where we want to end up? We are all heading in one direction or the other. It’s time to open our eyes and see where we are going and realize that along either path, we will meet like-minded people who will keep us moving in that direction.”

I turned and looked quizzically at my son and said, “thank you for your insights, Henry, do you have anything else to add to your Dark Harvest hypothesis?”

“Well, yes I do,” he said, “thank you for asking. I doubt that a great number of people set their sights on hell as their destination, saying something like: ‘My goal is to reach hell, and I’m going to do everything I can to get there, like hanging out with people who can help me stay focused on my goal.’ Perhaps a satanist or someone committed to serving the Devil would have this mindset, but most of the people living in darkness end up in hell because they failed to choose heaven.

“Saint Maria Faustina tells us about hell in her Diary: “that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell.” (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, #741). And Jesus warns us (Matthew 7: 14 NAB) that we must seek His Kingdom through the narrow gate: ‘How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few’.”

Henry paused, and looked intently at me, I guess to see whether I was paying attention, “Are you listening?” he said. “Yes”, I answered, “please continue with your hypothesis,” and he did.

“Could it be true that some people are headed for Hell, and they don’t know it? How many people do you and I know who are “objectively” living in mortal sin? Now, I know that we are not supposed to judge others, and I understand that. But If Harry is living with Suzie out of wedlock are they not committing serious sin at their worst, and/or causing scandal and temptation by the occasion of sin at their best?

“And how about Christians, Catholic or Protestant, who no longer go to church or rarely attend, or those who ignore the holiness of the sabbath and for whom Sunday has just become an ordinary day or others who live without prayer or without any type of worship to our Lord and our God. Are they in one way or another committing sin, perhaps even serious sin? No, I will not judge according to the denotation of the word ‘judgment’ and say this one goes to hell, that one to heaven, and another to purgatory. That jurisdiction belongs to Jesus and to Jesus alone. Our Apostles Creed tells us that ‘He ascended into Heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.’ I’ve been saying this creed for years, so by now, I think that I know what it means! No, I cannot “judge” others, but I most certainly need to know the difference between right and wrong and the difference between obeying or disobeying God’s commandments.”

Henry paused, but for only for a moment, then he continued, “So, if there are people in hell who didn’t believe in hell, as sister Faustina tells us (Diary #741), then those same souls must have been, at some point in their lives, moving towards hell without a complete awareness of where they were going! And this, in part, is what I mean by the ‘Dark Harvest,’ that there are dark souls more aware of hell, guiding other souls less aware of their terrible destination.

“Wake up and see the kind of world, the kind of culture we are living in today. A world ‘without sin.’ A world where sin is only sin if you think it is a sin. What nonsense. A world that tries to teach us that each person can decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. A world where right and wrong are subjective, and what’s right for me may be wrong for you, and that’s OK, because that’s the way it is, and everybody is doing it.

“In conclusion, I rest my hypothesis: ‘Many walk the broad path that leads to destruction,’ (Mt. 7:13-14, NAB), led by false prophets and false teachers who delight in guiding them towards hell. And that’s what I mean by the Dark Harvest.”