What does the word “stewardship” mean? Is it all really just about raising money and giving?
Stewardship can be defined as living a grateful and generous life that opens our hearts to God’s love and mercy. This love and mercy transforms our hearts, our lives, and our relationships. If God created everything, then God owns everything. Stewardship is our grateful response to everything God has given to us: our time, talent, and yes, our treasure. But, these “T’s” might not mean what you think they mean.
Stewardship is truly about love. We can think of the greatest commandment as a starting point in our stewardship journey, to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22:37-40). As good stewards, we want to take care of everything that has been entrusted to us, and that includes taking care of each other and participating in our parish and community. For a deeper dive into this journey, I encourage you to read and prayerfully contemplate the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37).
We can think of the “three T’s” like this: we love God by spending Time with God in prayer; we serve others in using our Talents in parish ministries and local charities; and we help support the needs of the church by making a consistent gift to the offertory with our Treasure, or income.
This September, our parish will embark on a parish-wide stewardship journey. Together, we will learn more about what being a good steward means and how we begin living this profound way of life. I’ll give you a sneak peek now: check out Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47. Imagine yourself right there with the first Christians living in community together. What do you see? What do you feel? Take it all in.
Stewardship is about giving, but how sad it would be if that’s where we stopped in our journey. True stewardship is all about love.