Stewardship
What is Stewardship?
Stewardship is a complete lifestyle, a life of total accountability and responsibility acknowledging God as Creator and Owner of all. Stewardship is responsible management of our God-given resources of time, talent, and treasure. It enhances our relationships with God and one another. Stewardship is living out a commitment to be Christ-centered rather than self-centered and involves a conversion of the heart. Stewardship is a lifelong journey with each person at a different place on the path.
Where to Begin? Below are stewardship actions that can be introduced into your daily lives to start you on your lifelong journey.
- Choose a time every day for prayer, by yourself or perhaps in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Find the time that seems most sacred for you, and take that time to spend alone with God.
- If possible, attend the Eucharist more than once a week. Trust us! God is always there, waiting to hear from you and wanting you to know of his unconditional love for you.
- Seize every opportunity to show God’s love through your random acts of kindness: an encouraging word, a pat on the back, a helpful hand.
- Be present to the people in your life, especially your family. Offer to help. Practice saying “yes.”
- Seek opportunities to participate in your parish or faith community as a greeter, altar server, lector, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion or assist in the religious education department.
- Decide to give a certain percentage of money to your parish each week. As you live with this decision, you will grow into a lifelong habit of generosity.
How Much Time Do You Spend with God?
As much as some companies might advertise "free minutes" the fact is that the minutes of our day are actually a free gift from God alone. Every day God gives each of us 1,440 minutes – no strings attached – no contract to sign. What do we do with those minutes? Do we give any of them back to God? Consider these options:
- Can you spend 1 minute every morning thanking God for His blessings and asking Him how He wants you to use your gift?
- Can you spend 10 minutes at the beginning or end of each day in quiet prayer, spiritual reading and reflection?
- Can you spend 30 minutes one day a week attending a weekday Mass?
- Can you commit to giving God 60 minutes every week for Sunday Mass?
Try this test for one week. Keep track of the time you spend with God and the time you spend talking, texting, surfing the Internet and watching TV. Considering that God gives you 1,440 free minutes every day, is He getting His fair share back from you?
