STEWARDSHIP

In their Pastoral Letter on Stewardship, a Disciple’s Response, the USCCB states:  "The Christian steward is one who receives God’s gifts gratefully, cherishes and tends them in a responsible and accountable manner, shares them in justice and love with others, and returns them with increase to the Lord."

Stewardship involves all of life. While pastors and others usually only speak of stewardship in terms of Time, Talent and Treasure, the truth is that stewardship involves all of life – body, mind and spirit, our material possessions, friendships, etc.  All we are and have is a gift from our Creator for us to use wisely to build up God’s kingdom here on earth.

Time

Time is a very precious gift.  Most of us feel we don’t have enough time for all the things we want to do.  Everyone is given the same amount of time:  24 hours each day, 168 hours each week.  The question is:  How do we choose to use our time? 

Here are some suggestions on how to spend your TIME wisely for God:

• Through daily prayer, we develop a close personal relationship with God, sharing with Him our successes and failures, and asking for His guidance in our daily lives.

• Reading Scripture daily helps us reflect on God's word. It also tells of God's great love for us.

• Assisting individuals and organizations is another way to share our personal time to the glory of God. We also show our love for Him by letting Christ use our feet, our hands, our eyes and our voice.

Your gift of time is unique, because you are the only one who can give it. Remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "O Divine Master, grant that I may no so much seek to be consoled as to console, be understood as to understand, and to be loved as to love."

Talent

All of us have been blessed with various talents, whether we are aware of it or not, or whether we have developed our talents or not. Of course, it is usually not possible to develop all of our talents. But, ideally, we can and should develop some of them and use them wisely to bless the communities we belong to. These talents and gifts are not given to us just for our own use, but are given to us for the enrichment of the lives of others and so that we can serve God better.

Christ depends upon each one of us to do the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy in His name in our church and the community. That makes us co-workers with Christ in the Holy Works of Redemption. What a privilege!

Your gift of talent is a special gift only you can give. Remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "It is in giving that we receive."

To find out ways you can share your Time and Talent with your church family. Please visit our Ministries website page to veiw all the ministries and how you can volunteer. Or you can contact the parish office at 330-896-2345 for more information.

Treasure

There are over 2,300 verses in the Bible about money, possessions and the right use of them. Why is this? Perhaps because God knows our propensity to misuse money or allow it to distract us from keeping our eyes on him.

Tithing. When it comes to financial support of our church family, the biblical ideal is a tithe—or 10%—of one’s income.  Our Catholic Church leaders suggest giving 5% to church and 5% to charity. Most Catholics who tithe reach this ideal gradually. In this area of stewardship, one of the most important steps to consider is to become an ‘intentional giver’—as opposed to a ‘loose change giver.’ An intentional giver is one who has the willing diligence to ‘do the math,’ that is, to look at his/her annual income and then prayerfully and intentionally decide what percentage should be set aside for the support of the church and for charity. When we do make the most of material possessions, Sacred Scripture points out how we can show our gratitude to God for his gifts

• God expects us to be generous even if our financial resources are not much. Remember how Jesus praised the poor widow for her generosity to the Temple (Mark 12:41-44).

• God wants us to share our money and material goods with those in need in our family, community, diocese and world (Cor. 9:1-15).

• Consistent financial giving is the best antidote for developing greedy tendencies.

• Generous financial giving helps to make us a little more like our good and generous God. As you know, God cannot be outdone in generosity; He gives back to us one hundred fold of what we give to others.

• It feels good to experience the joy of giving.

Your gift of treasure is a direct gift only you can give. Remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi: "It is in dying (unto thy self) that we are born to Eternal Life."

See the different ways of giving the "Gift of Treasure" at the top of this page.