Last May 21^st, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord. We heard this Gospel proclaimed:

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore,  and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
 
I preached about the four movements that constitute the Great Commission. The disciples are told to go forth. That means to set out from the mountain and immediately begin their mission. They are told to go and make other disciples. How? By word and sacrament baptizing them in the name of the Holy Trinity and teaching all that Jesus taught.
 
To go, to make disciples, to initiate these disciples into the Paschal mystery and to teach the way of Jesus Christ. This too is our commission as Catholics who are about to make our annual Catholic Stewardship Renewal.
 
With this column, I invite you to reflect personally on the words that Christ spoke on the mountain of the Ascension. Know that these words aren’t meant just to be pondered at the Ascension. Consider the process of making your annual stewardship commitment in light of that great commission.
 
Yes, the commitment forms are part of a material process. You are asked to fill out forms and sign papers. One can be tempted to consider this as just an administrative task that the parish is requiring, but it is much more. The forms become a formal statement of your commitment to responding to God’s generosity.
 
All through this past year, we have been receiving from the Lord’s bounty and blessings. What is the measure of our gratitude? Our spiritual response of gratitude will also be an “incarnational” response as it is transformed into service in the world. We answer the commission by committing to concrete and real ways of generously sharing the Lord’s blessings through prayer, service and sacrificial giving. These concrete actions show the depth of our gratitude and our desire to further God’s blessings by sharing them in love with others.

Please take the time to pick up your family’s CSR packet in the back of the church, fill out the forms, and return them to the parish by mail, dropping in the collection or dropping it off at the office.

Your completed stewardship renewal forms serve as a powerful witness to the rest of the community that you are committed to responding to the Great Commission and thus share in the parish’s communal effort to preach the Gospel in through Word, Sacrament and Charity.

The Gospel of Matthew ends with the above quote. What happened next? We know through the other writings of the New Testament what the apostles’ response was to the Great Commission. They went forth and fulfilled the Lord’s commission.
 
With your 2023 Catholic Stewardship Renewal commitment, you are being given an opportunity to write a new chapter in the life of the Church. This renewal process attests to how you wish to respond to Christ’s final words before ascending to the Father in an intentional commitment to prayer, participation and sacrificial giving.