Stewardship

This week my parish began a three week stewardship renewal program; with this week concentrating on spiritual stewardship. My pastor presented his interesting and rewarding thoughts.

He said:  Four words can summarize the response of stewardship spirituality:

·         Gratitude — we gratefully acknowledge the source of our gifts and blessings.

·         Accountability — we seek to use our gifts as the Lord would want us to use them, asking ourselves how God would want us to use our gifts in family life, work life, community life, in all areas of life.

·         Priorities — our priorities flow from our beliefs. As we make choices, we ask ourselves "What would the Lord want me to do?" And seek to bring Jesus’ values into every area of our lives.

·         Sharing — we give back to God the giver of all gifts, some of our time, talent and treasure through our church and other churches.

I can’t help but think of his naming of “Priorities” in relation to the upcoming elections. Will we vote according to our faith, with God’s and natural laws, with our religious freedoms in mind, or will we vote the way we have always voted, will we vote not for the good of the country – our collective selves – but for our pocketbook. There is no hiding the truth. We are broke! Our Federal government, our State government and our local governments are broke. We borrow (from mostly China) 60 cents of every dollar we spend as a nation. I will not have to pay this back, nor will you; but your children and your grandchildren will and beyond. Unless we are willing to see the failure of our country in our own lifetime, we will all have to suffer in some way. Or will you vote for your own pocketbook?

The economy is not the only issue. You have seen, you have experienced, the growing godlessness of our nation. Will you vote for a return to our Judeo-Christian values, or for the expansion of godlessness?

We are a very lucky people when compared to so many other countries. We should call to mind this reflection:

A reflection on Gratitude

To be grateful is to recognize the love of God

in everything He has given us…

and He has given us everything.

Every breath we draw is a gift of His love,

every moment of existence is a grace,

for it brings with it immense graces from Him.

Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted,

is never unresponsive,

is constantly awakening to new wonder

and to praise of the goodness of God.

For the grateful person knows that God is good,

not by hearsay but by experience.

And that is what makes all the difference.

— Thomas Merton