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October 1, 2017

When I was a youngster growing up in my home parish in the West of Ireland, I remember the time that the parish priest introduced envelopes to parishioners for their weekly contributions. What happened was quite remarkable, and it has stayed with me all these years. Before we had envelopes, people would reach into their pockets when the ‘baskets’ were being passed. (In our church we actually used boxes with slots into which people would place their offerings.) As they reached into their pockets, they would grab hold of the loose change that was there, and would drop the change into the boxes for our offering. After we began to use envelopes, everything changed. There was one major change that stands out, however, and I haven’t forgotten it to this day.

 When we would reach into our pockets for change, that was really indicative of an attitude we shared in our little village. We didn't know it, because we never really thought about it. But it was there nonetheless. By offering our change, we were offering our left-overs, what coins were remaining in our pockets. However, when we were given envelopes, we actually had to think about what we were giving. I remember my mother and father trying to think, for the first time in their lives, what would be an appropriate offering. For the very first time, they had to actually think about what they were going to give. I remember the day that my mother told my father that it wasn’t right to only drop change into the offering. She told him that they could well afford to give a note - meaning paper money. My parents went from giving leftover change from their pockets to giving paper money. In their heart and mind, they went from giving the leftovers of their life to giving an intentional gift for the good of the parish and the ministries it engaged in. Many years later, on a visit home, I remember asking my grown sister if she was using envelopes. She looked at me and with a straight face said to me “Mammy and Daddy had the envelope”. I suggested to her that as she had her own job and her own home, was she not grown-up enough to stop relying on Mammy and Daddy’s envelope and give her own? She said something to me that’s not fit for publication in a church bulletin, but I noticed the next time I visited home that she had begun to use her own envelopes.

 Intentional stewardship is a hallmark of mature faith. When we give intentionally, in proportion to our means, we are making a statement of our commitment to, and ownership of, the very real and concrete ministries of our parish. When Jesus observed that we render unto Caesar what is proper to Caesar and to God what is proper to God, he was inviting us into a pragmatic spirituality that takes into consideration many levels of our responsibilities as believers. It is part of our own development in faith that we support our church through contributing from our personal resources, our time, our talent and our treasure. As we mature in life, so we mature in our faith, and in what it means to be a mature disciple, practicing intentional stewardship.

 During these past weeks I and others have shared something of both the needs of our community as it continues to grow, as well as the ways in which our parish has been significant in our personal lives as well as in the lives of others whom we know. We use the word “stewardship” because it indicates our sense of belonging as well as our sense of ownership of all that goes on here at Lourdes. Many people speak of Lourdes as their second home, as a ‘larger family’ of faith. Lourdes is a place where we gather with others who believe like us and who support us when we need support and whom we support when they need support from us. Lourdes is a place where we meet with fellow Christians, where we can struggle and grow in our faith, and where we find the prayerful support and spirit-inspired courage to face the problems and difficulties we encounter in life. Our parish is a place where we receive an outpouring of God’s grace in the sacraments, and where we have the opportunity to share our blessings with others in need of God’s grace.

 Our intentional stewardship is the response of a believer who truly commits to following Christ. It is an appropriate response of the mature believer who reflects gratefully on the gifts we have received from God, and who is moved by joy to be blessing for others as we have been blessed ourselves.

 May God continue to bless us all. May our families, our loved ones and all those for whom we care, continue to experience the great goodness of our loving God.

 

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