Stewardship

As Catholic Christians, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of the gifts and treasures that God has bestowed on us.  Since everything we have is from our Father in heaven, everything belongs to him.  As stewards, we are only using what is rightly his. Just as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents, we must give an account to God for everything we did and did not do with what he entrusted us with.

In the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30, Luke 19:12-28), you might remember that the first 2 servants used their master’s money (talents) to earn even more for him.  The 3^rd servant buried his master’s money in the ground and returned exactly what he initially gave him.  This servant was dealt with harshly by his master because of his laziness.  God gave each of us talents and treasures that we are to use with which to glorify Him.  When we refuse to employ what God has given us to use for His glory - we are not being good stewards but are behaving instead, like the condemned servant.  It is with this sense of responsibility that we should view how we can serve the Church, which is the Body of Christ.

No matter how meager we might feel our particular talents are, they are needed.  As St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 12, although we are ONE Body, we are MANY parts - and each part has value and purpose.
If God has entrusted us with great wealth, our responsibility as stewards might be one of financial support.  Just as with our time and talent, our financial wealth also belongs to God and what we do with that wealth must also glorify Him. Our time, talent, and treasure will also glorify God when we apply them to our personal lives.  Using the gifts God has given each of us to serve the Church and our parish community is as relevant and important as it is in the way we apply that same stewardship to our families - because we are the Family of God.

As we saw in 1 Cor. 12, we are more radically joined together as the Body of Christ than the finger is to the hand, the foot to the leg.  Verse 26 says of the Body of Christ: “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”

Our call to serve the body of Christ comes from none other than our Lord himself: "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me" (John 12:26).  As the U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Stewardship states, “Once one chooses to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, stewardship is not an option.”