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Stewardship St. Mary's is a Stewardship Parish Community. As such we give freely of our time, talent and treasure toward the spreading of Gods' good news. We practice sacrificial giving by making God first in our decision making process and ourselves second. We first give back to the Lord a share of God's great gifts to us, then keep the remaining 90% for our own wants and needs. ~ 2007 Stewardship Appeal
Jubilee Year: God’s Call & our Response in Faith Fr. Michael Sequeira October 21, 2007
Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always (Luke 18:1-8)
Dear Parishioners,
While we still remember that
Mass, I feel obliged to share with you one of my profound
convictions. It is this: the Jubilee Mass served as an
occasion for us to grow. I am not referring to growth
meaning more activities and more programs, although there is
still room for an increase here, but rather to our
spiritual growth. Speaking about activities, realize that
when this Church was built in 1957,we had three Masses.
Today we have seven Masses every weekend, a vibrant youth
ministry., solid religious education programs for our
children, youths and adults. We offer coffee and fellowship
after Sunday Masses, and social gatherings such as the
Monster Macaroni Bash, Mardi Gras dinner, Parish Picnic,
etc. Our Church looks beautiful. We went on a mission to
Peru. But our spiritual growth needs more attention. Our Faith and our Cultural World Today we are blessed with so many material things such as electronics, video games, emails, cell phones, computers, and modern comforts. Thank God for them! Enjoy them! At the same time, however, realize they can entice us to lead a life of materialism, consumerism and greed. Their acquisition could become a priority in our lives. The more we have, the more we could crave them! In this process, we can forget God and the message of the Bible. We can forget the real areas where our energy and spending should go. And we may not even be aware of it.
Return to God and to God’s Values In this Jubilee Year, I invite you to renounce materialism and return to God and to God’s values. 1. First, believe in the fact that all we are and all we have - our lives, our families, our earnings, our health, our talents, our possessions and the blessings we receive from this parish - truly come from God and are God’s gifts to us. Yes, we work for them but still they are God’s gifts to us and God is the owner of them. Practically speaking they are entrusted to us so that we can make the right use of them 2. Secondly, if we recognize God’s gifts in our lives, we need to give thanks. Thirdly, thanks to God should not be in words only. Thanksgiving is an action. It is the action of sharing sacrificially a portion of our God given blessings with God in thanksgiving for His gifts to us. Such a sharing is a biblical precept. God commanded the Israelites to give back to Him ten percent of their crops, herds and earnings in thanksgiving for giving them a new land. He ordered them to do it from their first fruits, that is, from the best of their crops, from the best of their herds and from the best of their revenues.
On the occasion of our Jubilee, I invite you to lead this kind of God centered life. I am not talking about just money. I am primarily pointing out a new way of life. On your own free choice I ask you to choose a life of sharing a portion of your skills/talents and a portion of your financial blessings with God. Choose to set aside God’s portion as soon as you get your pay check or other revenue. This will be an expression of your faith in God. In this Jubilee year God calls you to such a life of sharing. Please act on your faith.
This way of living is what we call discipleship or stewardship. It is faith in action. In their Pastoral Letter on Stewardship, the American Bishops wrote: “Who is a Christian steward? One who receives God’s gifts gratefully, cherishes and tends them in a responsible and accountable manner, shares them in justice and love with others, and returns them with increase to the Lord.”
An Invitation Following the biblical precept, I ask you to share with God a sacrificial percent of your blessings with God. It could be seven per cent or four percent. It could be more, it could be less, but I ask you to consider an amount that is truly sacrificial for you. Pray to God on how much you should give Him. Let prayer play an important role in your response to God’s call. Ask the question: When we go shopping what does one dollar buy for us? What does ten dollars buy for us? What percentage do we tip the waiters or people who serve us, compared to how much we give to God?
Remember it is your sacrificial offering which keeps this parish going and allows us to do God’s work both here in our community and in the world. We need to pay bills, maintain the facilities and pay salaries. We try to be frugal. In spite of that, last year the revenues were short of 27,000 dollars! In order to offer all the current services, all parishioners need to accept the invitation to embrace a life of discipleship. Stewardship means adjusting our spending habits to enable us to give to God the portion due to Him. Respond to my invitation soon. Pray, discern, respond in faith. God will bless you abundantly.
Does the Vatican Send us the Resources we need? When we need financial support, does the Vatican or the Bishop send us money? No. You support this parish and allow our community to be God’s face and hands here on earth. Working parishioners, embrace this life of discipleship. It will be the best investment you can make for your future. Parents, strive to be good stewards and good examples for your children.Retired parishioners, share your gifts in a way that expresses your faith in God. God will never let you down. Children and young people, begin to practice sacrificial giving and God will direct you toward the right path in your future lives.
Please pray, discern, and consider the choice to embrace the life of being a good steward and disciple of Christ. Please return the enclosed pledge card soon. May God bless you.
From time to time, Father Michael asks parishioners if they would be willing to share their personal understanding of what stewardship means to them and their families. This year Dan Diana very generously shared his thoughts.
Thoughts on Stewardship. I have been asked to “witness” or share with you some of my thoughts on stewardship. I know that if you are like me, you have asked yourself “What is stewardship?” Well, the steward on a ship, if you could excuse the analogy, is someone who is there to look after the passengers’ comfort and wellbeing. So, I reasoned, we are called to stewardship to look after the wellbeing of our family members here at Saint Mary’s Church. In our core families we look after one another’s physical and spiritual needs, shelter, food, clothing, education, etc. We must do the same for our parish family. On thinking of what to say, I reflected back to several lines from the first reading of the Acts of the Apostles on April 3rd: “…All who believed were together and had all things in common, they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” Now, I agree, this seems a bit extreme in today’s time. You know, I never thought about Stewardship and in the parish at which I previously attended, I never thought of giving as a sacrifice. However, as time passed, my wife and I gave more of our time and of our talent; then the sacrificial element of giving struck home. As Father Michael has stated, “Stewardship is one of the main ways of expressing and living our faith” and we do this “by sharing our time, talent, and treasure with our parish.” We felt the need to reassess our faith. You well know that there are members of our parish family who are in need of help and there are those who need to help. God has blessed us with many gifts and material goods; but especially, He has blessed us with this church. (And I just don’t mean this beautiful building, but all of us who make this church what it is). We are also blessed with Father Michael, who is willing to help this church grow into a vibrant and beautiful parish family. You can see, as well as I, that this is an overwhelming job. Father needs help and he needs it now. We need to share our talent and our time, but especially our treasure or money. If we want to see our parish continue to thrive, continue to offer the services it now provides, and to help those in need, we need to sacrifice or give back to God some of the monetary gifts He has given us. Pledging a portion of our income enables Father to know what to expect and what programs can be started and what programs can be continued. For example, teaching the children of our parish about our Catholic faith. My wife and I try to give of our time and hopefully of our talents to our parish family. However, we also offer monetarily back to God a portion of our income and we are reflecting and praying on how to give more. This is stewardship and we have adopted our own strategies to accomplish this goal. Some of the strategies that we used are: making coffee at home instead of buying coffee out; not ordering out or eating out as often; having meals at home with friends instead of going out to eat; bringing our lunch instead of buying it; you get the idea – a sacrifice. We do this because we believe that giving a portion of our income back to God is necessary so that the programs and aids that are here at Saint Mary’s Church can continue. So I encourage you to give of your talents and of your time, but also reflect and pray on how you can sacrifice monetarily back to God. My wife and I believe that what we give to God will be given back many times over in riches that go far beyond monetary goods. The joy in giving back to God is like being touched by His divinity. Thank you for listening and for your time.
Daniel Diana |
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If you are moved to share you thoughts about what stewardship means in you life, we would very much like to hear from you. Please email your thoughts, in any form, to steward@stmarysclinton.com, or simply call the parish office. |
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