Stewardship Renewal Weekend of Time, Talent and Treasure “It is time for change in our lives. What are you willing to do about it?”
On the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we come to a very important and very controversial section of the Sermon on the Mount. It's known as the antitheses. It consists of a series of six statements in which Jesus sets up an antithesis, an opposition, between the teaching of Moses in the Old Testament, the old law, and the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in the new law of the Gospel. So, the Gospel reading deals with several serious issues: anger, lust, divorce, and remarriage, as well as the swearing of oaths. Therefore, this is really one of the most important texts in all of the New Testament for Christian morality, for living out the life of discipleship to Jesus.
To live out the discipleship of Jesus takes on a very concrete form in our parish this weekend as we celebrate the Annual Stewardship Renewal Weekend of Time, Talent and Treasure. The call to discipleship is to embrace and make stewardship a way of life. Giving your time could be as simple as calling or visiting someone you haven't talked to in a while or doing something as big as giving your life totally to God. Sharing your talents could be as simple as helping out your neighbor with some simple task or as big as dedicating yourself to large projects that would transform the community. Offering your treasure could be as little as donating money to the poor box or as big as establishing a foundation and giving more generously to feed, clothe and shelter the poor. In all these, we are invited to identify and experience holy moments as the direction for us this year.
We all crave more meaningful, generous, and fulfilling lives. We all have untapped capacities within us that make us yearn and long to unleash them. We crave to be liberated because God made us for more. In fact, He’s given us a spiritual superpower: the ability to collaborate with Him right where you are. Holy Moments are the profoundly simple and astonishingly practical way to collaborate with God, moment by moment, for the rest of your life. This weekend is a special invitation to begin to master our power to create Holy Moments and we will discover the life of extraordinary meaning and divine purpose God made you for!
By making stewardship the way of life in the context of holy moments, our lives will be flooded with meaning and divine purpose. Perhaps this will be the first time in a long time we will be able to experience insane happiness that comes from the encounter with the generosity that God is giving us with our own. Moment by moment, they will turn the nagging dissatisfaction in our souls into enduring and overflowing joy. In a world full of distractions where we are encouraged to fill our lives with meaningless things and trivial activities, Holy Moments have the power to unleash the greatness of the human spirit.
"The real success of stewardship in our parishes is found in the hearts of the people. Without a conversion of heart, no one is able to give of themselves as Christ has asked us to do." -Msgr. Thomas McGread
“It is time for change in our lives. What are you willing to do about it?”
Next weekend, February 18th and 19th, in our Diocese we will conduct the Bishop’s Annual Stewardship Appeal with the theme, “Perfect in Generosity.” Bishop Pohlmeier will share a special message at all Masses. This ensures everyone has the opportunity to receive his invitation to participate. I kindly ask that you commit this invitation to prayer and respond as your circumstances allow.