I want to talk to you for a few minutes about
Stewardship. What does Stewardship mean to you?
Unfortunately, for many Catholics, it is just that annual
November reminder when the priest gets up here to ask you to pledge money in
support of the church.
First, let’s define Stewardship. There is a difference between Stewardship and
Charity.
While both may involve giving, Stewardship refers to a RESPONSIBILITY
to take care of something belonging to someone else.
Something
that we are entrusted with, to protect and grow, as we learned in last week’s
reading of Jesus’ parable of the 3 servants that were entrusted with talents of
different amounts by their master.
We all believe in God, and we also believe that EVERYTHING
we have, be it the time we enjoy God’s
gift of life, or the many talents that we are blessed with the having, or the
treasure that God has bestowed on us, are all gifts from God. God is the ultimate owner of everything.
They are on loan to us for the short time we are in this
physical world.
And as stewards of these gifts, we are ACCOUNTABLE to God for
the acceptable care and use of those possessions.
Genesis tells us that God placed the first humans in a
garden to practice stewardship there….”to cultivate and care for it”.
As we believe that all things come from God, Christian
stewardship therefore applies to EVERYTHING, all personal talents, abilities
and wealth, as well as the environment and all human and natural
resources. For example: God gave us these bodies and we should not abuse them, we should
be grateful for them and eat healthy, exercise, and take care of ourselves.
2.
God gave us the animals and plants on this planet for us to use to
enhance and preserve our lives. As we do
not own them or this planet, we are entrusted as good stewards, to use, not
waste, and preserve as much as we can.
3.
Jesus laid the foundation for this church, which has been built by
His disciples over the years. We are His
entrusted stewards, and with that, we are entrusted with its future.
This is where your gift of Time, Talent and Treasure come into
play. As God is proud of us and gave His only Son as the ultimate sacrifice, we
also should be proud of our Catholic faith and our Church, and also give
sacrificially.
We are encouraged to approach this from the perspective that one
is a humble steward of God's possessions, not the outright owner.
We should give back to the Lord, through donations of Time,
Treasure and Talent.
4.
As a parent, our first and
most important responsibility to our children is to teach them about Christ and raise them in
the ways of the Lord.
Once a child knows the will of God in their lives, all the rest
falls into place.
When I was a kid, I was never taught about being a Steward of my
church. We didn’t have much money, and my
mother gave me a quarter for the basket every week.
So being a good learner, as I became an adult, for so many years,
it was a quarter that I put in. Then I
eventually put in a dollar.
I believe that the reason many Catholics don’t give MORE to their
church is not because of apathy but because of ignorance—they have never been
taught what God’s word says about good stewardship.
As a parent, YOU have the power and responsibility to teach your
children, not their schools or daycare.
So…Who is a Christian Steward?
·
One who receives God’s gifts gratefully,
·
cherishes and tends to them in a responsible
and accountable manner,
·
shares them in justice and love with all,
·
and returns them with increase to the Lord.
We talk of Stewardship of Time, Treasure and Talent. Lets talk briefly about Time… (wait 1 minute
in silence to exemplify)
… The time I was
just silent was 1 minute. Every day that
we are alive, God gives us a gift of time, a gift of 1,440 minutes in every
day.
How many of these minutes do we spend with God or give
back to Him?
If we spend just 5 minutes each day in prayer, (that would be 5x longer than the brief moment
of silence I just demonstrated), and 1 hour a week at mass, that would be just
95 minutes of the 10,080 minutes that are in a week.
That is less than 1% of the time God has gifted us
with. Doesn’t sound like a very big
return of the gift of time that He has blessed us with??? Does
it?
So that now brings me to speak of the Stewardship of
Treasure. You KNEW this was
coming….after all, it IS November.
A common question we hear often is “How much should one
give”? I have asked the same question myself, many times.
Let me ask you something…. Aren’t we blessed to have such
a beautiful church? Heated in the
winter, Air Conditioned in the summer. Such
wonderful music at our mass?
I don’t know about you, but on Saturday evening I
actually look forward, to waking up the next day to come to mass. It gives me such a mixture of feelings, feeling
of Joy, feeling of Humility, and feeling of Peacefulness, just to mention a
few.
I get so much and so many good feelings when I come and
celebrate each Sunday in this church, and praise God.
Now, let me ask. How
many of us enjoy our daily Latte’? Its
pretty hard to start our day sometimes without it… isn’t it?
At $4-$5 per day for a latte’ I was spending over $1000
per year, just on my morning latte’ to start my day off.
This seemed kind of ironic to me, in trying to put some
perspective on where I should be spending my hard earned money, the gift that
God has given me, the gift that I am to be a good steward of.
I decided there is no way I could put 1 or 2 dollars in
that basket on Sunday, then drive out of the church parking lot and spend $10
driving through starbucks with my wife.
THINK ABOUT IT. After
all, which gave me true pleasure, true satisfaction, and joy in my life? Receiving Christ? Or sipping a latte’?
All Christian stewards must consider prayerfully the
gifts they have received from God, and they should make a decision in ADVANCE
of the “first fruits” instead of what is left over. Give back to the Lord first, and HE will
provide the Latte’ if it is meant to be.
Most of us receive a regular salary or income of some
sort, something we can depend on so we can plan and budget appropriately. Could you IMAGINE trying to manage your
affairs if your boss told you he has no idea how much he will pay you, just
wait and see what he has left over at the end of the week?
By making a pledge at the start of the year, this also
helps our parish with their budget planning, and being able to project what it
may be able to count on rather than wondering each week if there be
enough.
That’s why I now pledge at the start of each year, how
much I am going to give, rather than waiting till the end of the week to see
how much is left over in my pocket. Give
the First Fruits, not the leftovers.
The Catholic Church has a mission to accomplish, as so does
our parish, which provides so much to us.
Each member of this parish shares in the responsibility for its
mission. Responsibility…. One of the
prime differences between charity and Stewardship.
I urge all of you to think about your giving. I can tell you that it seems like every year
when I increase my sacrificial giving pledge; more good comes to my wife and I,
more gifts from the Lord.
Fill out your pledge card, and I challenge each of you to
increase your pledge from the year before.
If you got a pay raise, shouldn’t we thank God for it by giving Him an
increase?
THANK YOU for sharing 10 minutes of your gift of time
from the Lord with me this morning.
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