Stewardship Tip November 2008

Being living stones

This year the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome falls and is celebrated on a Sunday. The prayers and Scripture readings for that weekend remind us that we are “living stones” and temples of the Holy Spirit. But what does that mean in an everyday way? What are we part of? What are we building? How are we using the “living stones” that we are to build up the Body of Christ that is the Church? How are we bringing the light and life of the Holy Spirit into the world?

God has blessed each one of us with life and with a unique package of skills and abilities and then trusted us to use them in ways that build up God’s kingdom.

Sometimes we can use our talents directly for the Lord – we might use our voices to sing with the ensemble or put our people-skills to work as hospitality ministers. Sometimes we use our best talents in the workplace and give a portion of what we’re paid for what we do as an offering at Mass. In that way our monetary gift becomes a kind of “stored time and talent” that the community can use to purchase what it needs to pursue its mission.

But what we give to the church, whether directly or indirectly, is only a part of our total stewardship. God has given us all of what we have and are and expects us to be accountable – to be good stewards – of all of it! What we do with and for our families, the work we do at the office or the factory or at home, the way we spend our leisure time – all of those things and more are the “stuff” of stewardship. Stewardship is a way of life that gives thanks to God for all the good gifts we’ve been blessed with – life and time, talents and skills, relationships and attitudes, spiritual and temporal resources – and then uses and shares all those things generously as a way to express our love of God and neighbor.

St. Theresa said it this way:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

St. Paul says it more simply. We are the living stones with which the Kingdom of God is being built. Now. Today. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” What return will we make to the Lord for all he has done for us?

Stewardship Tip November 2008

Being living stones

God has blessed each one of us with life and with a unique package of skills and abilities and then trusted us to use them in ways that build up God’s kingdom.

St. Theresa said it this way: