Prologue:

This is the Fourteenth in a series of articles that will be appearing in the Sunday bulletin over the next several weeks. These articles are designed to help our parishioners understand what stewardship is all about and guide our parishioners in supporting our parish through prayer, service, and sharing.

Chapter Fourteen:  The Christian Steward

The following is taken from the fifth chapter of Stewardship a Disciple’s Response, A Pastoral Letter on Stewardship. First published in 1993, the Pastoral Letter from the National Conference of Catholic Bishops addresses Stewardship in chapters entitled the Call, Jesus’ Way, Living as a Steward, Stewards of the Church, and The Christian Steward.  The following is a summary of the Christian Steward:

Christian stewards are generous out of love as well as duty.  They dare not fail in charity and what it entails, and the New Testament is filled with warnings to those who might be tempted to substitute some counterfeit for authentic love,

What, then, are Christians to do?  Of course, people’s lives as stewards take countless forms, according to their unique vocations and circumstances.  Still, the fundamental pattern in every case is simple and changeless:  “Serve one another through love…bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 5:13, 6:2).  This included being stewards of the Church, for as we are quite specifically told, “the Church of the living God” is the household of God (1 Tim 3:15), and it is essential to practice stewardship there.

The life of a Christian steward, lived in imitation of the life of Christ, is challenging, even difficult in many ways; but both here and hereafter it is charged with intense joy.  Like Paul, the good steward is able to say, “I am filled with encouragement, I am overflowing with joy all the more because of all our affliction (2 Cor. 7:4).

After Jesus, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who by her example most perfectly teaches the meaning of discipleship and stewardship in their fullest sense.  All of their essential elements are found in her life: she was called and gifted by God; she responded generously, creatively, and prudently; she understood her divinely assigned role as “handmaid” in terms of service and fidelity (cf. Lk 1:26-56).  As Mother of God her stewardship consisted of her maternal service and devotion to Jesus, from infancy to adulthood, up to the agonizing hours of Jesus’ death. 

In light of the many examples of discipleship and stewardship, it only remains for all of us to ask ourselves this question:  Do we also wish to be disciples of Jesus Christ?  The Spirit is ready to show us the way—a way of which stewardship is a part.  (To be continued next week….)  [Top]