Stewardship
Lord God,
You alone are the source of every good gift,
of the vast array of our universe,
and the mystery of each human life.
We praise You and thank You
for Your great power and tender, faithful love.
Everything we are and everything we have are Your
gifts, and after having created us
You have given us into the keeping of
Your son, Jesus Christ.
Fill our minds with His truth
and our hearts with His love,
that in His spirit we may be bonded together
into a community of faith,
a parish family, a caring people.
In the name and spirit of Jesus,
we commit ourselves
to be good stewards of the gifts entrusted to us,
to share our time, our talent, our material and
spiritual gifts as an outward sign
of the treasure we hold in Jesus.
Amen
Leisa Anslinger, The Generous Heart
"STEWARDSHIP"
“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)
"Take. Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace; that is enough for me."
St. Ignatius of Loyola, Suscipe
Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ and a good steward?
Jesus calls us to be his disciples, to learn from him and to follow him in his loving way of being in the world. Following Jesus is our vocation—our calling and our commitment. It is a total way of life that seeks our continuing conversion of mind, heart, and our entire being, striving to conform ourselves to the image and likeness of God in which we are created, as exemplified and manifested in and through the person of Jesus Christ.
As Jesus’s disciples, we are called to recognize God as the source of all life, and to be good stewards of the many blessings, talents, gifts, and resources which the Lord has given to each us. In its simplest terms, stewardship asks us to put God's priorities before our own, to become Christ-centered rather than self-centered.
Good stewards give the first portion of their gifts of time, talent, and material resources to the Lord's work in gratitude for the many blessings bestowed on us. This practice of giving of our "first fruits" incorporates the aspect of sacrificial giving. God does not judge us by how much we give, but by how faithful we are in generously sharing with others the gifts entrusted to us.
Stewardship is a lifelong commitment to our Lord. “As Christian stewards, we receive God's gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord” (USCCB).
As baptized members of Christ’s Church, we are called to actively participate in, support, and sustain the mission of the Church to proclaim, teach, sanctify, and bring the reign of God’s love, peace, joy, freedom, justice, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, healing, transformation, and salvation to those persons, organizations, and cultures we encounter in our time, place, spheres of influence, and especially to the poor and those in need.
Each of us is called to join in this mission, sharing the gifts, talents, material resources, and other blessings that God has entrusted to us and other disciples, through our Parish community, joined together with other parishes in our diocese, in our nation, and with the universal Church.
It is primarily through our Parish community, guided by the Spirit, that we encourage, nourish, and support one another, provide resources to guide and assist us in the practice of being loving disciples of Jesus, and to actively participate in the mission of his Church. The Parish cannot do this without each person sharing their time, talent, gifts, material resources, and other blessings in gratitude with others in our Parish community.
The question we must each ask ourselves is whether we are generously and lovingly doing this? If not, then now is the time to begin.
VIDEOS
"Stewardship"
"Parish Stewardship"
"The Joy of Stewardship"
"Parish Stewardship"
"Stewardship Parish"
MUSIC
"They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love" ("We Are One in the Spirit")
"God of Wonders"
"God of the Impossible"
OTHER RESOURCES
"Stewardship" (USCCB)
"Best Practices in a Stewardship Parish" (Archdiocese of Milwaukee)
"Stewardship Parish Handbook" (Diocese of Wichita)
"Ten Principles of Catholic Stewardship" (James J. Lanahan)
"Other Resources on Catholic Social Teaching"
REFLECT ON YOUR EXPERIENCE
Can you name the talents, gifts, material resources, and other blessings that you have received?
Are you generously sharing these blessings with our Parish and Archdiocesan communities?