When parishioners hear the word "stewardship" from the pulpit, they often tend to cringe! In the past, stewardship has often been associated with fundraising. People may well be aware that stewardship involves contributions of "time, talent and treasure," but they often suspect-and often rightly so!-that the priest is going to emphasize "treasure." After all, the charitable projects in need of financial support are endless.
For this reason, the Bishops of the United States formulated a completely renewed understanding of the concept of "stewardship."
The basic foundational document is entitled, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response (www.usccb.org). It is a description of spirituality for lay Catholics. A Catholic spirituality is an approach, a method, or a way to live out one's Christian life on a daily basis. In its simplest and clearest form, the spirituality of responsible stewardship is a spirituality based on the principle of gratitude. There are four basic pillars to the spirituality.
First, a Christian steward is one who receives God's gifts gratefully. This is the basic attitude. When we stop to think about it, in the long run everything we have and all that we are is a gift from God. This includes even the sufferings and hardship of life, difficult as it may be, in many situations, to recognize sufferings and hardships as potential gifts. Our response, as Christians, is to be continuously grateful. Gratitude is an attitude to be cultivated every single day. An "attitude of gratitude" is highly effective in our ongoing spiritual transformation. For one thing, it helps us keep life's problems in proper perspective.
Second, a Christian steward is one who nurtures God's gifts responsibly. Consider personal talents and abilities of every kind. Since we recognize they are given to us as gifts, our task is to take care of them and to develop them. If a person has been given the gift of music, cooking or hospitality, for example, it follows that, as grateful disciples, we will want to nurture, i.e., cultivate or develop, the gifts the best we can.
Third, a Christian steward is one who shares the gifts in justice and love. Recognizing that the gifts come from God, and wishing to follow Jesus' teaching on the value of sharing, it is only natural that the Christian disciple would want to share personal gifts of time, talent and treasure for the building up of God's kingdom on earth. It is, as we all well know, that in giving of ourselves to others in need, that we find human fulfilment and respond to Christ's call.
Finally, a Christian steward is one who returns the gifts to the Lord with increase. In sharing our gifts with others, we are in fact, expanding the gifts. They remain no longer primarily for our own benefit, but bring joy to the life of other people. The recipients, in turn, can be grateful for the infinite variety of gifts they receive.
Consider the familiar "Parable of the Talents" in Luke 19: 11-27. The servant given ten talents made ten more. The servant given five talents made five more. The servant given one talent did nothing to expand his talent, and even that one was taken away. Understandably, we will want to be like the servants who expanded the talents they had been given. In returning them to the Lord with increase, not only are we giving God glory, but we are also deepening our own spirit of gratitude.
How does a Christian imbue himself or herself with this wonderful and life-giving spirituality? Here is a practical plan. Commit the four pillars to memory. Think about them daily. Ask yourself: For what gifts am I grateful today? Say "thank you" often, both to God and to other people. How can I nurture or cultivate those gifts? How can I share them? Am I returning them to the Lord with increase?
You may even wish to write out the four pillars and post them on your mirror or kitchen cupboard to remind you often of your spirituality.
The results? You may find yourself giving more time to God in prayer. You may find yourself signing up for helping with the liturgical ministries of the parish when you have sign-up Sunday (which in many parishes is actually called "Stewardship Sunday"). You may find yourself bringing more joy and hope to people in need. Above all, you will likely grow in your communion with the Lord, and will feel more fulfilled in your life of Christian discipleship.
Using a "Stewardship Prayer" (such as the one shown below) as an individual, family or parish community, can also help to bring alive your spirituality of responsible stewardship.
(Father Robert Kasun, C.S.B., is pastor of St. Thomas More parish in the Diocese of Calgary, Alberta.)
-Reprinted with permission from The Carillon, September 2007, Diocese of Calgary, Alberta
