Sewing Seeds May 2008

An excerpt from Catholic Stewardship: Sharing God's Gifts by Colleen Smith (OSV)

Prayer’s Power

A Christian steward is a prayerful person. Without a prayerful approach, most people couldn’t make the leap of faith required by authentic Christian stewardship. And as with any other spiritual practice, you will not, cannot, advance far without prayerfulness. Stewardship requires reflection and contemplation that lead to mindfulness. You cannot deepen your stewardship without enhancing your faith life; and, I dare say, vice versa.
To embark on a deepened spirituality of stewardship, turn in earnest to prayer. If you’re stuck, if you don’t trust, if the idea of a more serious commitment to stewardship calls up all sorts of fears, simply pray. If you’re stuck for a prayer, try this stewardship prayer:

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, and 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.

If that seems too formal or too long, send up a prayer as simple and straightforward as this: “God, grant me a grateful heart, a generous spirit, and faithful trust in Your abundant glory and grace.” Pray until you sense a shift. If you continue to pray, you can be confident that you will sense a shift. But you have to knock, to seek, to ask.
“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find” (Mt 7:7)