If the title of this column is actually true, then all of us should earnestly strive to live a life of faithful stewardship. For which of us does not wish to:
Well, I believe living a stewardship way of life will deliver all of the above. My guess is that some of you reading this column already know the truth the regarding the above claim. (If you would like to share with me on this, I would love to hear from you).
What is a Stewardship Way of Life?
A stewardship way of life involves the following:
Becoming more and more aware that all is gift and blessing—all that we are and have is gift from God. This means accepting the biblical truth that we own nothing. As scripture reminds us we come into the world with nothing and we leave the world with nothing (Job 1). A stewardship way of life involves recognizing God as the sole creator and owner of all that we are and have and seeing ourselves as stewards or mangers of his gifts and blessings. Our job or mission is manage and use wisely and responsibly all that God has placed in our care. Today’s Gospel concerning the three people with talents is about accountability, God asking three men to account of their stewardship.
As we grow into a stewardship way of life, we will gradually develop a lifestyle that is marked by generosity. An infallible sign that we do in fact believe and accept the biblical truth that God owns it all is a life of generosity. On the other hand, tendencies to hoard is a pretty good sign that we believe our stuff is ours to do with as we want.
As we seek to develop a stewardship way of life, we are aware that one day we will have to account for our stewardship here on earth. How well did we use the God’s blessing to bless the lives of others?
Stewardship of Time
TIME is a very precious gift. We often say today “We don’t have time” for this or that. When it comes to being a good steward of time the key question is:
Everyone is given the same amount of time, 24 hours each day, 168 hours each week. God’s question to us is.
To what extent do we squander TIME , watching near useless stuff on T.V.? To what extent do we use an excessive amount of time on recreation? To what extent do we use time to foster our relationship with God and volunteer in some ministry that blesses others?
I would like to suggest spending one hour of our time each week in our Adoration Chapel is a very good way for us to use one of the 168 hours of the week. I would even suggest that every retired person in our parish should do this. You have the time. Come spend an hour with Jesus and pray for all those families who are stressed out with hectic lifestyles, pray for peace in our world, pray for Catholics who no longer come to Mass, pray for your own spiritual transformation. What a wonderful way to use our TIME.
All of you who do not have the physical capacity to volunteer should know that you play a very valuable role in the life of the parish by your hours of prayer. Our church made St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, the Patroness of the Missions even though she never spent a day on the missions. Our church recognizes that every success on the missions (and also in our parishes) is based on the hours of prayer of good praying people. So older people or homebound parishioners NEVER feel useless. Your hours of prayer is of infinite value to the mission of the church and parish.
Using some of our TIME to volunteer is also being a good steward. So many of you already do that. If you don’t volunteer and have a desire to do so, but you are not sure what you should volunteer for, I suggest you:
Being a Steward of Our Abilities and Talents
In his first letter to us, St. Peter writes: Put your gifts at the service of one another. 4:8
I am most grateful for hundreds of you who are already living this word of the Lord. In doing so you are blessing our parish or wider community. Thank you. Many others are perhaps sitting on their talents and not using them to bless others. In today’s gospel, Jesus had a severe warning for those bury their talents. Failing to share our talents is like stealing from our communities. Talents and abilities are given to us primarily to bless others.
Being a Good Steward in Our Homes and Work Places.
Every place we live our lives gives us the opportunity to live a life of faithful stewardship. To put this very briefly, we can say that whenever we try to be the best that we can be at this time we are being a good, if imperfect, steward of the Lord.
In our homes we are good stewards when we try to relate well to the people we live with. We are being good Catholic lay men and women and good stewards when we bring the values of honesty and integrity to our workplace. Such values help to transform our workplaces. We are also being good stewards in the work place when we try hard to be a good employer or boss, good employee or co-worker. Our presence in the workplace can be one in which the light of Christ shines through us. We are a blessing to others. Or we can be a pain in the butt in our workplace, always complaining, gossiping and tearing others down.
I urge each of you (and myself) to continue to reflect on the rich biblical theme of Christian stewardship. Let us keep asking ourselves.