What Belongs to God? (part III of IV)

08-26-2012Pastor's LetterFr. Don Kline

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This week I would like to offer you step two of three steps to being a good steward.

Step 2
How about talent? Use the talents you have to give to God in gratitude for all He has given you. Everybody has talents and some many talents. We are called by God to share those talents with others. Putting our talents to use for others is not the same as "helping father." It is recognizing God's blessings, thanking Him, and putting them to use, because that is our pathway through this life to salvation. It is the beginning of that salvation how. A bit of heaven on earth.

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What Belongs to God? (part II of IV)

08-19-2012Pastor's LetterFr. Don Kline

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This week I would like to offer you step one of three steps on being a good steward.

Step 1
To make it all understandable and livable, stewardship – what we do in the response to the call to live as disciples of Christ – a call that each of us has received at his or her baptism – has been divided into the 3 t's: time, talent, and treasure.

I'm going to start with time. Of course we know that our time is limited. We also know that the greatest gift is love but the most valued gift is time. Each of us has the same 1,440 minutes in a day, 168 hours a week. Some people say it would be nice to have another day in the week, but I say we have enough. If we added a day, it would just be another day for work. If it would be a day of rest – golf, or the beach – that would be fine. But, knowing how we are, it would probably be work.

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What Belongs to God?

08-12-2012Pastor's LetterFr. Don Kline

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Our Lord has told us that we are to "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." At least the IRS in our country makes it clear what goes to Caesar – what we owe for taxes.

It's the second half of that, "give to God what belongs to God," that can be the greater challenge. Such giving or stewardship before God is never limited solely to money. Rather, this quality of stewardship means that we offer, as a gift, all that we have received from God. Everything – it all belongs to God. So, what do we do? So how are we supposed to respond to God's generosity?

Stewardship is the name given to what a disciple of Christ does to respond to that question or challenge: We receive God's gifts gratefully, nurture them responsibly, share them justly and charitably and return them abundantly.

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