 Fr.
Tom's Tomes February 5, 2006
This weekend we complete Catholic Schools Week. This previous week was a time to recognize the importance of Catholic Education in our country and in the lives of many people within our nation. Catholic Education is an important ministry of the Catholic Church and of our parish. I want to thank all those who support our parish and support the ministry of Catholic Education at Bishop Hogan School. Without the support of all of our parishioners we will not be able to continue the many ministries within our parish. It is important to talk about stewardship. In the past month I have been watching the collections taken in on Sunday. We have not done very well in tithing to our parish. Some weeks the Sunday collection was around $3,500.00. The gas bill for last month alone for our buildings here at St. Columban was $3,400.00. We all are aware of the increase in the cost of natural gas as well as other costs are continuing to climb. I believe it is important for me to let the parishioners know I count on your tithing to pay the bills of the parish. Stewardship is a realization that we live in the presence of God. Knowing we live in God’s presence we need to return to God the first fruits of our labors. In the Old Testament from the very beginning of the Book of Genesis we read the story of Cain and Abel. This story tells how God asks both of the brothers to return the first fruits of their labors to God. One did, the other did not. But what is important is knowing God did ask from the beginning of creation for man to return to God the first fruits of his labor. In today's terms this means we as God’s people need to know this is still required of us today. We are to give to God the first income we have. Tithing is returning the first 10% of all we make to God. It is trusting in God to know we will be taken care of. People often say that "God won’t give us more than we can handle" and "God’s generosity can not be out done". If we have ever used one of these phrases then we need to return to God from the income we make. We need to trust God will take care of us and give to the Church because God has given us the opportunity to have an income. Do you do it? Do your actions show God and others your belief that God is going to take care of you? Stewardship though goes farther than this. Stewardship is not just giving the first 10% of our income to God. It is also giving of our time and talents to help others reach salvation. It is giving of who we are to share God’s love with others. It sometimes is easier to give of our finances than it is to share our time and talents. Stewardship is again the realization our time and talents do not belong to us alone but to God and all God’s people. It is hard to make time in our busy lives to share time and talent with others. It is only when we are willing to give our time and talent to others we become less selfish and more open to giving to others. Stewardship is realizing all we have, our income, our talents, our time, is not something owed to us but something given to us through God’s generosity. Without God we would have nothing. I invite you this week to think about what you do contribute to the support of the Church? How do you contribute your time and talents to help the Church and to build Christ’s kingdom here on earth? St. Columban needs both your financial support as well as your support of time and talents. Have a blessed week. |