WEEKLY STEWARDSHIP SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS...
June 19, 2011 - Trinity Sunday
The Gospel today is sometimes called “the Gospel in miniature” because it so concisely sums up the Gospel message. In even more condensed form, “God loved. . . God gave. . .” is the paradigm for stewardship — we give because we love.
June 26, 2011 - Body and Blood of Christ
The Scriptures today remind us that “we, many though we are, are one body for we all partake of the one loaf.” How are we using our gifts of time and talent to build up the Body of Christ? See 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
June 29, 2011 - Ss. Peter and Paul
Saints Peter and Paul worked tirelessly to spread the Gospel. Not all can be apostles, but we, too, must be good stewards of our vocations, using the gifts we’ve been given in the service of God’s kingdom.
July 3, 2011 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Let all Your works give You thanks, Oh Lord, and let Your faithful ones bless You,” says the psalmist. Stewardship is this “attitude of gratitude” for the many gifts God has given us. See Psalm 145
July 10, 2011 - Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
May our stewardship of time, talent, and treasure show us to be among those who have heard the message of Christ and taken it in, yielding a hundred — or sixty — or thirty-fold!
July 17, 2011 - Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Those who are just must be kind,” says today’s first reading. If our words and deeds are kind and selfless, we will be like the good seed in the Gospel parable and gathered as wheat in the Lord’s harvest. See Wisdom 12:19
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Good stewards in a parish are like the yeast in today’s Gospel. Their selfless gifts of time and talent help the parish grow and thrive, and their example inspires others to become good stewards, too.
July 24, 2011 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The law of Your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces,” says the psalmist today. Does the amount of my offering suggest that I could honestly say the same? See Psalm 119
July 31, 2011 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, Jesus feeds the five thousand with five loaves and two fish. The message of stewardship is that God’s gifts, shared, will always be more than enough.
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“The hand of the Lord feeds us,” sings the psalmist; “He answers all our needs.” Often, though, it is with the open hands of generous stewards willing to share His many gifts that God’s people are fed and their needs met. See Psalm 145
August 6, 2011 - Transfiguration
In the Gospel today, Peter yearns to do something to make concrete the Transfiguration he had witnessed. But to be a good steward of this spiritual gift, he was instructed to be still, to listen to Jesus, and to wait for His direction. Good advice for us, too!
August 7, 2011 - Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Elijah recognized the voice of God not in the strong and heavy wind, not in the earthquake, and not in the fire, but in a tiny whispering sound. May we find enough quiet in our lamorous world to hear His voice and discern what He is calling us to do and be.
August 14, 2011 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s second reading, St. Paul tells the Romans, “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” To what is God calling me today? What gifts are mine to share? See Romans 11:29
August 15, 2011 - Assumption
“After Jesus, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who by her example most perfectly teaches the meaning of discipleship and stewardship. . . She was called and gifted by God; she responded generously, creatively and prudently; she understood her divinely assigned role as ‘handmaid’ in terms of service and fidelity.” (U.S. Bishops’ pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple’s
August 21, 2011 - Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s reading, St. Paul reminds the Romans — and us — that all things come from God: “For from Him and through Him and for Him all things are.” Good stewards understand that all is gift and share generously the gifts of time, talent, and treasure with which they’ve been blessed. See Romans 11:36
August 28, 2011 -Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s second reading, St. Paul exhorts the Romans to total stewardship. Brothers and sisters, he urges, “. . . offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.”See Romans 12:1
September 4, 2011 - Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Am I my brother’s keeper? All three readings today suggest that for the Christian steward the answer is “Yes!”
September 11, 2011 – Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Stewardship is not optional! “None of us lives as his own master and none of us dies as his own master,” says St. Paul. “While we live, we are responsible to the Lord, and when we die, we die as His servants.” See Romans 14:7-9
September 14, 2011 - Exaltation of the Cross
Even though the Lord led them out of Egypt and provided for their every need, the people in today’s first reading were complaining and ungrateful. Does my stewardship of God’s gifts show that I know from Whom they came and am grateful?
September 18, 2011 – Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s Gospel, the vineyard owner says, “I am free to do as I please with my money, am I not?”We are likewise free. Is a generous return to the Lord in thanksgiving for His many blessings among the choices we have made? See Matthew 20:15
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Good stewards follow the advice of St. Paul and conduct themselves — by wise use of their time and talents — in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ.
September 25, 2011 - Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The first son in today’s Gospel said he would do his father’s bidding, but did not. The second son balked at first, but then repented and did as he was asked. What service is God calling me to do? Which son am I more like?
October 2, 2011 - Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel today, the owner of the vineyard sent messengers to collect his share of the harvest from the tenant farmers, but there was not a single good steward on the property! God is the owner, we are the tenants. What sort of stewards are we?
October 9, 2011 - Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In today’s second reading, St. Paul thanks the Philippians for being willing to share in his hardships and promises that God, in turn, will fully supply all their needs. Our God truly cannot be outdone in generosity!
October 16, 2011 - Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Each year at tax time, we conscientiously give “to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.” Does my stewardship indicate that I am as faithful about giving “to God what belongs to God”? See Matthew 22:21
or (if celebrated as “Mission Sunday”)
The bishops’ pastoral letter on stewardship reminds us, “Jesus not only calls people to him but also forms them and sends them out in his service. Being sent on a mission is a consequence of being a disciple.”
October 23, 2011 - Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor when we exercise good stewardship— joyfully sharing our gifts of life, abilities, and resources to meet our neighbor’s need.
October 30, 2011 - Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The greatest among you will be the one who serves the rest,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel. What wonderful good news for those who give of their time in service to others! See Matthew 23:11
November 1, 2011 - All Saints
Today’s psalm makes clear that we and everything we think we own actually belong to God instead: “The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it.”We are stewards, not owners, of our lives and all we possess! See Psalm 24
November 2, 2011 - All Souls
On the Feast of All Souls we pray for those who have gone before us and stand in judgment before God. May we share with one another the treasure of love’s memory, and console one another with the assurance of resurrection.
November 6, 2011 - Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Like the sensible bridesmaids in today’s parable, good stewards make sure that they, and whatever gifts are theirs to share, are ready to serve when the Master calls.
November 13, 2011 - Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Good stewards are like the industrious and reliable servants in today’s Gospel, prudently using and multiplying the gifts entrusted to them by God.
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The “worthy wife” described in today’s first reading is a perfect example of active stewardship, reaching out her hands to the poor and extending her arms to the needy.
November 20, 2011 - Christ the King
When the Son of Man comes in glory, may we be among those who have fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, and clothed the naked. For Jesus tells us clearly that it is those who have demonstrated good stewardship by sharing their gifts with the less fortunate who will receive God’s blessing and inherit the kingdom.
Advent Season (Year B)
November 27, 2011 - First Sunday of Advent
We are the servants of God, each with his or her own task. We will be judged good stewards if, at His coming, He finds us ready and conscientiously pursuing the tasks to which we have been called.
December 4, 2011 - Second Sunday of Advent
John the Baptist’s call to repentance is echoed in the U.S. bishops’ pastoral letter on stewardship: “Christians must beg God for the grace of conversion: the grace to know who they are, to whom they belong, how they are to live — the grace to repent and change and grow, the grace to become good disciples and stewards.”
December 8, 2011 - Immaculate Conception
Mary’s Immaculate Conception prepared her for her unique role as the Mother of God. We, too, have been given all the gifts we need to do the work to which God calls us. Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us that we may have the courage to say “yes!” when God calls.
December 11, 2011 - Third Sunday of Advent
All of the people in today’s readings — the prophet Isaiah, the Virgin Mary, St. Paul, St. John the Baptist — seemed to understand clearly and rejoice in what God was calling them to be and to do. Do I?
December 18, 2011 - Fourth Sunday of Advent
In the first reading, God promises King David that his house and his kingdom will endure forever. It is through Mary’s “Yes” — “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say.” — that the promise finds fulfillment. See Luke 1:38
Christmas Season
December 25, 2011 - Christmas
The shepherds who heard the joyous news from the angels on that first Christmas night and then hurried to find the infant Savior must surely have been changed by that experience. How has His coming changed my life?
December 30, 2011 - Holy Family
“Whatever you do,” says St. Paul to the Colossians, “. . . do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through Him.” And so it is that we offer our gifts in the Eucharist “through Him, with Him, and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.”
See Colossians 3:17