{"id":24180,"date":"2012-10-05T14:00:16","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T19:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=24180"},"modified":"2012-10-12T09:42:11","modified_gmt":"2012-10-12T14:42:11","slug":"stewardship-as-a-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/stewardship-as-a-way-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Stewardship as a Way of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mary was the ultimate steward<\/p><\/div>\n

The basic principles of Christian stewardship \u2013 accountability, generosity and the willingness to give back with increase \u2013 stem from a spirit of gratitude. People of faith acknowledge God as the giver of all creation. Everything that we have and all that we are, our skills and talents, our possessions, and life itself are gifts from God.<\/p>\n

We are all called to believe in stewardship.\u00a0 To live the stewardship life is to trust in God’s love, mercy and providence.\u00a0 A Christian steward acknowledges this in two ways.\u00a0 First, he or she understands that when one\u2019s individual gifts of time, talent and treasure are combined with the gifts of other Christian disciples, the Church and the world are enriched, the good news of the Gospel message is brought to those who have not heard it, and people come to know firsthand the free and generous love of God.<\/p>\n

Further, Christian stewards are not afraid to keep less for themselves, realizing that the less “stuff” there is in their lives, the more room there is for God. They recall the sacrifices God continually makes for us, know the difference between needs and wants, and are willing to sacrifice a portion of their wants to meet the needs of others. \u00a0Those who seek to live their lives as stewards know that \u201call things work for good for those who love God\u201d (Rom 8:28).<\/p>\n

Living our lives as Christian stewards is not easy, nor is our gratitude for God\u2019s blessings meant to lead at any time to complacency, or the acceptance of social and economic conditions, despite how good or bad they are.\u00a0 Rather, a close relationship with Jesus and a desire to live out our lives in imitation of his will ease our stewardship journey and motivate us to seek economic and social justice.<\/p>\n

However challenging stewardship may be, each of us takes part in one vocation \u2013 to be a disciple of Jesus.\u00a0 It is through our discipleship that our stewardship comes alive. More simply, stewardship is an outgrowth of a true conversion toward Christ.\u00a0 Jesus invites us to share in his love, and we in turn seek to bring his love to others.\u00a0 In this way, stewardship is built upon a close, intimate and personal relationship with Jesus through prayer, and it is this relationship with Jesus that allows us to grow closer to our parish communities through the generous sharing of our gifts.<\/p>\n

At the same time, our love of Jesus helps us to understand our responsibilities more clearly.\u00a0 The U.S.Bishops’ 1992 pastoral letter Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response<\/em> reminds us, \u201cstewards of God\u2019s gifts are not passive beneficiaries.\u201d Christ\u2019s invitation into his love is also an invitation to contribute to his mission of teaching, serving, and healing.\u00a0 We are all called, then, to share in God\u2019s plan for redemption, not only for ourselves but for others.\u00a0 We are also obligated to be good stewards of the Church.\u00a0 We have a personal responsibility to our parish and our local Church, the diocese.<\/p>\n

As parishioners, we need to find ways to live out our faith in our parish communities. As Catholics, we give generously \u2013 time, money, prayers and service \u2013 to our parishes, schools and diocesan communities. Our responsibility is clear: to continue the mission of Jesus, and our way ahead is guided and sustained by his unfailing love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The basic principles of Christian stewardship \u2013 accountability, generosity and the willingness to give back with increase \u2013 stem from a spirit of gratitude. People of faith acknowledge God as the giver of all creation. Everything that we have and all that we are, our skills and talents, our possessions, and life itself are gifts… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[671],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-column","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t