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Come, let us give to God by giving to our parish!
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“Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?
Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14).
Toddlers learn to delineate their territories very quickly. They declare emphatically, “Mine!” Somehow this is one of the first words they learn. But this is more than just a word, it is an attitude, the attitude that what another has belongs to them. We learn at a very early age to grasp for things and to claim them as our own. This lesson then continues through life as we chase stuff. Sometimes it seems as though our whole existence is about the pursuit of more. We want more for ourselves and want to keep others from taking what we claim as our own. On the contrary, when we give or tithe, we acknowledge that everything belongs to God. I will like to share a reflection on giving to the church by looking at an example from scripture.
King David had received a dream from God, to build a Temple. So, in his last days as king he initiated a capital campaign to raise funds to build the Temple. Although his son Solomon would eventually be the one to build the temple, David did not hesitate to put together offerings of his own gold and silver. The people also responded generously. David watched with pride as tribal leaders and government officials came forward with gifts of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious stones. Army commanders and generals followed with their own offerings. Both David and the people rejoiced at this generosity. David could have patted himself on the back and boast about his leadership in this endeavor. But he didn’t. He understood what was happening and gave the praises to God, to whom it was due. This was his prayer, “Everything in heaven and earth is yours. Wealth and honor come from you” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12).
It is true that David and the people gave a greater part of their fortune to this project, they nevertheless acknowledged that everything belonged to God. David sums it up in this way: “Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14). Stewardship is not about giving up what belongs to me; it is about managing God’s resources and using those resources to build God’s kingdom. Generosity is not measured against what someone else gives, but is rooted in our understanding of God’s ownership of all that we have, and our willingness to let go and let God use our resources as He sees fit. As an anonymous author puts it, “When we give to God we are just taking our hands off what already belongs to Him.” In his beautifully written and thought-provoking book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes, “Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or of moving your limbs from moment to moment, is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to His service, you could not give Him anything that was not in a sense His own already.”
October is our parish stewardship month. Our parish invites us all to renew our profession of faith in God from whom all things come with concrete generosity to our parish and her mission. Come, let us support the work of evangelization and build God's kingdom together by giving generously to our parish.
Finally, the feast day of our heavenly patroness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower of Jesus, is October 1st. To mark this beautiful feast we will have our 40 - Hour Eucharistic Adoration beginning after the 11:30 a.m. Mass until October 3rd. Please consider spending some time with the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration during any of the hours Our Blessed Lord would be exposed on the altar. We have invited a dynamic and faith-filled disciple of Jesus, Bob Kloska, to lead us in prayerful reflection on the Heart of Jesus. This would be on Sunday, October 1, at 3 p.m. in the church. Please see the bulletin for more information.
May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!
Fr. Julius