Stewardship

09-22-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. James Aboyi

Dear Parishioners,

The Scripture Readings today invite us to reflect on our roles as Stewards of the Lord and His Church. Many priests feel very uncomfortable preaching or talking about stewardship in the Church, mostly because it is often associated with soliciting for money. However, the Church’s teaching on stewardship means more than that. A steward is someone who is entrusted with the responsibility of managing something on behalf of the owner. Our Christian understanding of stewardship takes its root from God’s command to Adam and Eve when he said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth” (Gen 1:28).

This explains why we believe that everyone of us is entrusted with the task of stewardship to protect human life, from conception to natural death; to preach the Good News of the Gospel to everyone; to use our time, talents and treasures to support the Church; and to protect our environment and the whole of creation.

As Christian stewards, we believe that God is the true owner of all that we have. Therefore, it is our duty to use all of our materials and human resources responsibly, to share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord. In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul asked, “What do you possess that you have not received? But if you have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?” (1 Cor 4:7). Similarly, St. Peter puts it this way, “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10).

On this note, I would like to thank every one of you for your generous support to our parish community. Naturally, no Catholic parish, rich or poor, can thrive without the voluntary sacrificial support of each member through the giving of time as volunteers and gifts of materials and human resources to support the Church.

I, in particular, would like to thank you all for your overwhelming financial support to the “Living our Faith, Building Our Home” Campaign for our new church. I thank you for your weekly financial support that keeps our church community running, and for your charitable contributions that supports those in need. I am aware of how much you have already stretched yourself to the max to support the church. As I said earlier, I feel very uncomfortable to ask you to try to stretch a little bit more, but as St. Peter says, “To whom else shall we go?” As you can see from the bulletin reports, we are still struggling to meet our weekly budgets. I ask you, especially our new parishioners, to please consider increasing your weekly off ertory so we can balance our weekly budget. May God continue to provide for you as you support the Church. Amen!

Thank you and Remain Blessed.

Fr. James