Stewardship
Stewardship Committee's Mission
To
develop and foster a Christian Community atmosphere whereby the
spiritual and social needs of parishioners can be realized through
a total stewardship program of time, talent and treasure resulting
in a sense of belonging, involvement and
commitment for each parishioner.
Will Stewardship
Really Make A Difference In My Life? |
It is
so easy to put our lives on hold and with it all of our
good intentions:
- "Someday when I have
more time"
- "When I've reached my
goals"
- "I'll give my share of time, talent and treasure,
but not right now"
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What
will we tell those in need of prayer, in need of a kind
ear or the hundreds of other acts of Stewardship that will go
undone or the gifts that the Lord has given us that will
go unshared, if we all were to think that way? Stewardship acknowledges
that God is the source of all of our gifts and talents,
and we are the caretakers of these gifts. |
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Where Stewardship has
been adopted as a way of being, both the giver's and receiver's
lives have been changed. True conversion has taken place
in the hearts and minds of those who embrace Stewardship
as a way of Life. |
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Lord, You alone are the source of every good gift, |
of the
vast array of our universe, |
and the
mystery of each human life. |
We praise
You and we thank You |
for Your
great Power and Your tender, faithful |
LOVE. |
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Everything
we are and everything we have is Your gift, |
and
after having created us, |
You
have given us into the keeping of Your Son, |
JESUS
CHRIST. |
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Fill
our minds with His truth |
and
our hearts with His love, |
that
in His Spirit |
we
may be bonded together into a community |
of
faithful, caring people. |
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In
the Name and Spirit of Jesus, |
we
commit ourselves to be good stewards |
of
the gifts entrusted to us, |
to
share our time, our talent |
and
our material gifts as an outward sign |
of
the Treasure we hold in Jesus. |
AMEN. |
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This earth
with death. For most, it is about 25,000 days.
Our time is precious and cannot be stored up
like grain in a barn. Once a moment passes
it is gone forever.
God wants all of us
to reach heaven... that is why He created
us and why He sent us Jesus. Our life on
earth is a pilgrimage towards heaven. Each
day, each week, each month and each year
we must be progressive on our pilgrimage.
We cannot do this unless we give some time
to God.
- Through daily prayer, we develop
a close personal relationship with God,
sharing with Him our successes and failures,
and asking for His guidance in our daily
lives.
- Reading
Scripture daily helps reflect on God's
word. It also tells of God's great
love for us.
- Assisting individuals and
organizations is another way to share
our personal time to the glory of God.
We also show our love for Him by letting
Christ use our feet, hands, our eyes
and our voice.
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| Your gift of time is unique,
because you are the only one who can give it. |
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All of us have special talents
or gifts, which are a sign of the power and majesty
of God, who can do all things. These talents and gifts
are not given to us just for our own use, but are given
to us for the enrichment of the lives of others and
so that we can serve God better.
St. Peter in his
first epistle tells us, "Each
one of you has received a special grace, so like
good stewards responsible for all these different
graces of God, put yourselves at the service of others."
All of Christ's works need to be done in
our parish and community. As you know, Christ is not
physically present in our parish to:
- visit the sick and elderly,
- to feed the hungry,
- to teach those who want to learn,
- to console the lonely and sorrowful
- to pray for the needs and to give a helping
hand and a kind word
Christ depends upon each one of us to do
these Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy in His
name. That makes us co-workers with Christ in the Holy
Works of Redemption. What a privilege! |
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Your gift
of talent is a special gift only you can give. Remember
the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "It is in
giving that we receive." |
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The christian need to share
our gifts of Treasure may be best illustrated by the
well known parable of the talents, Mathew 25:14-30,
speaks of a man preparing to travel
to a far country. Before departing, he gives talents or money
to his servants. |
The
first servant receives five talents and works to
build them into five more. |
The
second servant who receives two talents, doubles
their value as well. |
But the third servant, who
receives one talent, buries it. |
When
the master returns, he praises the first and second
servants, but he takes the one talent from the third
servant because the servant was not a good steward
of the money, having done nothing to increase its
value.
The lesson of the parable of the talents
is that we are to make good use of material gifts
given to us by God. To be less than frugal with our
material goods is a sin. To do nothing with them
is just as wrong |
When we do make the most of
material possessions, Sacred Scripture points out two
ways we can show our gratitude to God for his gifts.
- First, because God is the Giver, some
percentage of what is received must be returned
to Him as an act of gratitude. (The
Old Testament people were expected to give a tithe
of 10 percent. This practice is mentioned 39 times
in the Old Testament and 11 times in the New Testament,
so we know it is God's will that the practice be
continued.)
- Secondly, there should be some sharing
of our money and material goods with those in need
in our family, community, diocese and world. Paul
11, Cor. 9:1-15.
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Your gift of
treasure is a direct gift only you can give. Remember
the
words of St. Francis of Assisi: "It is in giving
that we receive." |
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