stewards
As priests we are obliged to undergo an annual retreat of not less than three days. It is an obligation spelled out in canon law - a practical regulation borne out of centuries of experience intended to rekindle the flame that sustains us in our ministry. It is also a time where we can be together with our brother priests, at least by batches, for a longer period, and renew the ties that bind us in our work for the church.
This year’s focus of our retreat is on the value of stewardship. What is stewardship? Stewardship is the humble acceptance of God’s gifts in our lives and the readiness to use them for others. My priesthood is a gift. The exercise of my leadership in the parish or in a particular area of apostolate is God’s gift. The sacraments that I dispense, the word that I preach, the funds that I manage . . . everything, even my life are God’s gifts - gifts intended to be used for others.
I believe this value is not just something we priests should imbibe. It is a way of life intended for all.
For several weeks now we have tried to organize our barangays, asking people (sometimes even begging) to take upon themselves some form of leadership position in our parish. This is the hardest part in our barangay assemblies - convincing people to help us run the parish. When asked, people would always feel reluctant to accept with reasons ranging from “I have a home to run,” “I am busy,” “I do not know what to do,” to reasons like “there are others better than I,” “I am not a very religious person.”
The reluctance may have been caused in part by the difficulties of the work considering that what is being asked is something on top of their other responsibilities. It is understandable. No one can deny and I am not denying the fact that acceptance of the task involves extra work and a difficult one at that. But it would have been easier if we have learned to live in our lives the value of stewardship. Stewardship is a way of life. My life, my time, my talent, my treasure are God’s gifts. Everything in my life is grace and I am called by God to share these with others.
Our retreat facilitator told us a story of a mother in some rural area who has never seen a dollar bill in her whole life. When her son went abroad the neighbors expected that her life would improve for the better. But year after year she remained just as she was before, as poor as they were. So one day they asked the woman, “is your son abroad sending you anything for yourself?” The woman said, “well, yes, he sent me letters. And in the letters he sent he never failed to send me small pieces of paper, almost green in color with different pictures on them. I don’t know what to make of them so I kept these inside my baol.”
Years later this woman, this mother, died and his son went home for the first time after many years. The son was surprised. His mother was living in the same squalid condition when he left many years ago. He asked the neighbors what her mother did with all the money he sent her but they could not answer him, until one of them remembered that her mother told them once that she hid small pieces of paper her son kept on sending her in all his letters. And so they went looking for her baol. When they found it . . . lo and behold they found inside the baol a stack of hundred dollar bills.
This is what happens when we fail to acknowledge that everything in us is God’s gift - gifts which he never failed to send us. But what do we do with these gifts? Thinking that these are just small pieces of paper with tiny portraits of men we do not know, we hid them in our baols. Some of us will die never using them, never knowing what these things are and for what. Some of us will never even appreciate the value of these gifts and how they could be of great help to others. Some will even die without knowing that they have so much to give.
Our barangay assemblies challenge us to acknowledge our giftedness as sons and daughters of God. Our God is a God of abundance. We have to trust him, to rely in his unfailing generosity. God is our security if only we permit ourselves to be led by him.
We are stewards of God. Our stewardship comes from the reality that we are his sons and daughters - his gifted sons and daughters. We possess these gifts not as owners but as stewards who are to use these gifts for others.
This year’s focus of our retreat is on the value of stewardship. What is stewardship? Stewardship is the humble acceptance of God’s gifts in our lives and the readiness to use them for others. My priesthood is a gift. The exercise of my leadership in the parish or in a particular area of apostolate is God’s gift. The sacraments that I dispense, the word that I preach, the funds that I manage . . . everything, even my life are God’s gifts - gifts intended to be used for others.
I believe this value is not just something we priests should imbibe. It is a way of life intended for all.
For several weeks now we have tried to organize our barangays, asking people (sometimes even begging) to take upon themselves some form of leadership position in our parish. This is the hardest part in our barangay assemblies - convincing people to help us run the parish. When asked, people would always feel reluctant to accept with reasons ranging from “I have a home to run,” “I am busy,” “I do not know what to do,” to reasons like “there are others better than I,” “I am not a very religious person.”
The reluctance may have been caused in part by the difficulties of the work considering that what is being asked is something on top of their other responsibilities. It is understandable. No one can deny and I am not denying the fact that acceptance of the task involves extra work and a difficult one at that. But it would have been easier if we have learned to live in our lives the value of stewardship. Stewardship is a way of life. My life, my time, my talent, my treasure are God’s gifts. Everything in my life is grace and I am called by God to share these with others.
Our retreat facilitator told us a story of a mother in some rural area who has never seen a dollar bill in her whole life. When her son went abroad the neighbors expected that her life would improve for the better. But year after year she remained just as she was before, as poor as they were. So one day they asked the woman, “is your son abroad sending you anything for yourself?” The woman said, “well, yes, he sent me letters. And in the letters he sent he never failed to send me small pieces of paper, almost green in color with different pictures on them. I don’t know what to make of them so I kept these inside my baol.”
Years later this woman, this mother, died and his son went home for the first time after many years. The son was surprised. His mother was living in the same squalid condition when he left many years ago. He asked the neighbors what her mother did with all the money he sent her but they could not answer him, until one of them remembered that her mother told them once that she hid small pieces of paper her son kept on sending her in all his letters. And so they went looking for her baol. When they found it . . . lo and behold they found inside the baol a stack of hundred dollar bills.
This is what happens when we fail to acknowledge that everything in us is God’s gift - gifts which he never failed to send us. But what do we do with these gifts? Thinking that these are just small pieces of paper with tiny portraits of men we do not know, we hid them in our baols. Some of us will die never using them, never knowing what these things are and for what. Some of us will never even appreciate the value of these gifts and how they could be of great help to others. Some will even die without knowing that they have so much to give.
Our barangay assemblies challenge us to acknowledge our giftedness as sons and daughters of God. Our God is a God of abundance. We have to trust him, to rely in his unfailing generosity. God is our security if only we permit ourselves to be led by him.
We are stewards of God. Our stewardship comes from the reality that we are his sons and daughters - his gifted sons and daughters. We possess these gifts not as owners but as stewards who are to use these gifts for others.
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