For the past year our parish has been growing in discipleship by learning more about our role as stewards of God’s grace. As a young man growing up in Wichita, Kansas, Bishop Shawn McKnight learned first hand how a theology and discipline of stewardship can transform a parish into a dynamic center of evangelization. His pastor was the priest who invented stewardship, Msgr. Thomas McGread. Bishop McKnight set our diocese on the path to renewal through the practice of stewardship, building on the work of Bishop McAuliffe from 40 years ago where we all first learned to commit ourselves to stewardship of the time, talent and treasure that God has blessed us with.
While there is still much to learn and grow into regarding stewardship, we are approaching an important milestone in the journey: making a decisive commitment to God and each other to live out the next year of grace as good stewards. On the weekend of October 22-23, every parish family will receive a packet of materials to guide their discernment as to the commitments they will make to prayer, service, and sacrificial giving.
We all want to grow in faith. The natural world around us teaches us that if we want to produce an abundant harvest, we must tend our fields. Sure, we can just throw a bunch of seeds out and hope for the best. The Parable of the Sower reveals what happens in that case. Weeds, blight, drought, predation, and sheer neglect will make an abundant harvest impossible. The Stewardship Renewal Weekend is the opportunity to protect the seeds of faith God has sown within us.
One of the essential elements of stewardship—so evident in the Scriptures—is accountability. Human beings grow best and the most when we help each other be accountable for who we are and what we want to accomplish. Think of the many parables Jesus spoke about rendering an account. Think of the many processes that are necessary in education, health care, safety, security, finances, and the myriad businesses we work in. Each field has integral accountability practices to ensure reliability, efficiency, growth, and simple survival. We need practical systems in place to do our best.
There is a fundamental Catholic principle that says “grace builds upon nature.” While the Church is the mystical Body of Christ in the world, nevertheless, it is made up of human beings. We have to make an effort to build relationships with others. We are individuals for sure, but we are social beings that thrive best when we can count on each other to live upright and trustworthy lives. We need each other for inspiration, advice, and assistance with the things we can’t do on our own. Having everyone in the parish make a commitment to prayer, service, and sacrificial giving will be an important and crucial step for continuing our mission. The past several years has had a tremendous impact on our parish. The stewardship renewal weekend and followup will go a long way toward rebuilding our ministries, uniting us more closely in prayer, and ensuring that our facility and programs continue to grow and prosper by having the financial, material, and personnel resources required.
The first objective of stewardship renewal will be discerning the specific ways that each of us will personally commit to time in encountering God in prayer, study, and worship. The Catechism of the Catholic Church begins with these words: “at every time and in every place, God draws close to man.” That is the central truth of our faith, that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Through the mystery of the Incarnation, God is present in this world. The first commitment of the steward then is to make time to be with God. The commitment of prayer can be seen not so much as a doing, but a being with. Prayer is our relationship with God. And all of us have our particular spirituality and prayer practices whereby we draw closer to God. We can use that beautiful verse of Luke 11:1 to guide us. “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus responded by teaching them, and us, to call God “Our Father”. Discerning a commitment of time for prayer and worship will be making this passage come alive once again.
The second objective of stewardship renewal will be discerning the service that each of us will commit to as we use our God-given talents. In the past 14 months here in northeast Missouri, I have barely come to know my parishioners. Pandemic practices really impacted our ability to spend time with each other in social settings. I have to confess, I have to challenge myself to get out of isolation mode and get out and meet people. Nevertheless, I have noted that we are an amazing parish of super-talented individuals who have education, experience, dedication, and passion in an unimaginable variety of fields. If the commitment response of our parishioners will accomplish one thing, it will give me the insight I need as pastor to coordinate, inspire, and assist people as they go about their most basic service in their occupations and in their families. The commitment of talent will allow us all to place the tremendous gifts God has blessed us with at the service of building the Kingdom. While the harvest is great, and there is tremendous need in our community for compassionate service, simply recognizing that the greatest joy of our life really is in giving, rather than receiving, is reason enough to make our commitment of talent.
The third objective of stewardship renewal will be discerning the tithing commitment we will make with our treasure to support the ministries of our parish and our mission of evangelization. While tithing is about ensuring the financial stability of our parish, it really is much, much more. Proverbs 3:9-10 puts it this way, “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with first fruits of all your produce; then will your barns be filled with plenty, with new wine your vats will overflow.” Tithing is a spiritual discipline whereby we acknowledge that all the goods of this earth are gifts from God, our Creator. Without the stuff of creation, we could not accomplish anything. We wouldn’t even be. Our contribution to the parish, beautifully symbolized in the offertory procession as it accompanies the elements of the Eucharistic sacrifice, is a real act of faith and worship. Our tithe represents that we are offering back to God a portion of what He gave us. The fruit of the land and the work of our hand is the substance that is transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. And therefore all the work we do, all that we have, all that we sacrifice out of love for others from day to day becomes a living offering to God.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be giving further details about what the commitment weekend will look like. In summary, though, it will be a chance for all parishioners to pick up their renewal packets, to update their personal and family information needed for parish communication and management, to have access to parish staff and other volunteers to answer questions regarding the renewal process, and to give a personal witness to others of a commitment to our parish by simply showing up. And of course, there will be an outreach and follow up process for those who are homebound or otherwise unable to attend.