Stewardship
at
Christ the King Catholic Church
We the people of Christ the King
[are] called by God our Father
to be surrendered to the
Lord Jesus,
in the power of His Holy Spirit,
in the heart of His Church …
from the Mission Statement of
Christ the King Catholic Church
…called by God our Father
…
The
opening sentence of the mission statement of Christ the King Catholic Church starts
with a statement that is fundamental to our identity as Christians and must
precede everything else we say or do:
God is our loving Father. In His
great love and mercy, through Baptism, He has taken us out of the kingdom of
Satan and placed us in the Kingdom of His Beloved Son. Through Baptism, He has made us His adopted
sons and daughters.
Our
relationship with God is not a function of our performance. It is not a function of our worthiness, past,
present or future. It is a free,
unmerited gift of His immeasurable love.
All we can do is say, “Yes.”
to
be surrendered to the Lord Jesus …
The
next phrase of our mission statement summarizes our call to discipleship. It is not a call unique to us. Every Christian is called to say, “Yes” to
the Lordship of Jesus, to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.”1
But
what does that mean practically? How do
we live out that call in our daily lives?
Part of the answer is found in stewardship.
What
is Christian Stewardship?
The
American Heritage Dictionary defines a steward as: “One who manages another’s property,
finances, or other affairs…” Christian
stewards recognize that all we have—our relationships, our talents, our
resources, our entire lives—have been given to us by our loving Father. It is our responsibility—and our delight as
His children—to administer those gifts according to His will and for His glory.
The
U.S. Bishops in their pastoral letter Stewardship: A
Disciple’s Response wrote:
Becoming a disciple of Jesus
Christ leads naturally to the practice of stewardship. These linked realities,
discipleship and stewardship, then make up the fabric of a Christian life in
which each day is lived in an intimate, personal relationship with the Lord. 2
The
gifts that God our Father has poured out on us are many and varied. Here are just three major categories of gifts:
¨ Our Time. St. Clare of Assisi’s last words were, “Blessed be Thou, my God, for having created me.” She
recognized that her very existence was a gift from God. To be good stewards of this precious gift, we
must regularly take time to be with God in prayer and with our family and loved
ones.
¨ Our Talents. We are sometimes tempted to think that we
have no talents, that talents are reserved for the “gifted.” But God our Father has given all His
children talents. To be good stewards of
our talents, we must ask Him to help us identify our talents and then use them
for the purposes for which He has given them to us.
¨ Our Treasure. Our money and other resources have been given
to us by God to provide for our needs and the needs of others. To be good stewards of our treasure, we must
be both prudent and generous, giving to others, not out of guilt or fear, but
out of gratitude to God for His generosity to us.
In the
power of His Holy Spirit …
Jesus
told His apostles, “Apart from Me you can do nothing,”3 and that includes being a good steward of our
Father’s gifts. But we do not have to do
this on our own. Jesus promised that our
heavenly Father “will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”4
St.
Paul wrote, “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are
varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working,
but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.”5 The gifts described by the prophet Isaiah6 and the gifts and fruits described by St. Paul7 all enable us to live more fully as children and
stewards of God.
In the
heart of His Church …
Among
the greatest gifts that God our Father has given us is the gift of being part
of the Catholic Church, to which has been entrusted “the very fullness of grace
and truth.” 8 The Eucharist
and the other sacraments, Mary and the other saints, the Pope—these and so many
other gifts help us to be “changed into His likeness from one degree of glory
to another.” 9
As
a sign of our gratitude, we seek to exercise our stewardship and live our
lives, like St. Thérèse, “in the heart of the Church our Mother,”10 faithful to the Vicar of Christ, that all may know,
to the glory of God our Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord!11
Notes:
1
Mark
8:34
2
Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, p. 14.
3
John
15:5
4
Luke
11:13
5
I
Corinthians 12:4-6
6
Isaiah
11:2-3
7
I
Corinthians 12:8-10, Galatians 5:22-23
8
Unitatis redintegratio (Decree on Ecumenism), 3
9
II
Corinthians 3:16
10
Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Manuscript B
11
Philippians
2:11
Resources
on Stewardship
Stewardship:
A Disciple’s Response. Tenth Anniversary Ed. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: Washington, D.C., 2002. (Available in the
Parish Library)
Web site
for the International Catholic Stewardship Council: http://www.catholicstewardship.org/