Our spirituality of stewardship invites us to place God first in our lives.

Thirty Second Sunday in OT  C  2019

The Sundays of November bring us to the conclusion of the Church Year.  Today’s readings also call to our minds the conclusion of our own years on earth.  The mystery of life and death, like holy twins, reside within each one of us. 

One of my all-time favorite song is Bette Midler’s The Rose.  She sings, “It’s the soul afraid of dying, who never learns to live.”  She is right.  Unless we have identified our ultimate values, we have not begun to live fully, for we are locked behind the bars of fear.

So my question for you today is: “Just what are you willing to die for?”  I realize this is a rather heavy question, especially if you haven’t had your first cup of coffee this morning.  This is the question the Scriptures invite us to consider.  Just what is big enough, important enough that I would give my life for it?

As we edge toward the end of another liturgical year and the beginning of Advent, the Scriptures address our deepest fears and offer our profoundest hope.  What happens when you die?

In the first Scripture reading from the Book of Maccabees:  “It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king to force them to eat pork in violation of God’s law.  One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said:  “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us?  We are ready to die rather than transgress the law of our ancestors.”

The brothers and their mother had drawn a line in the sand.   Their trust and faith in God was that important to them.  Their trust in a resurrection faith was non-negotiable.  It was to die for.

The Scriptures today invite to reflect on the lives of people who place God first in their lives.

Today’s Gospel passage comes late in Luke’s Gospel and late in the liturgical year.   In the Gospel, the Sadducees were the religious leaders who denied that there was life after death.  To prove their belief, they asked Jesus a trick question about a woman who ended marrying seven brothers.  Then they Jesus the absurd question:  whose wife will this woman be in the resurrection?

The Scriptures calls us to reflect on the last things – on death and the mystery of the resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus is the linchpin of Christian faith, the source of our hope, the cause of our joy.  In the light of a resurrection faith, we seek to place God first in our lives.

On this Stewardship Commitment Sunday, we are inviting you to reflect on the spirituality of stewardship.  It means we wish to place God first in our lives.  It means we live a life of gratitude, conscious of the many blessings that are part of our lives.  We are inviting you to make a stewardship commitment of time and talent.

Today is our annual Stewardship Commitment Sunday.  The bulletin last week had a stewardship section on time and talent.  Our stewardship of time is our prayer life.  Does our prayer reflect our desire to place God first in our lives?  Where is there room for improvement?  Our stewardship of talent is our commitment to use one of our God-given talents for the building up our faith community in ways that we witness to the love of Jesus to one another and to all in our community.  Our stewardship of talent affirms that all of us are stakeholders in our parish life.

Our vibrancy as a parish is affirmed by all of us sharing what we have in the service of one another. 

We ask you in today’s Sunday offering to place the tear-off section of last Sunday’s bulletin in the collection.  If you forgot to bring the stewardship commitment form with you this morning, no worries.  There are extra commitment forms in the pews.  We ask to take a couple of moments after the homily to fill out a commitment form and place in the collection basket.  

I invite you to think about your commitment to stewardship and filling out a commitment card in the context of placing God first in your life.  The choices we make reflect our level of commitment.  Know that the Scriptures place our stewardship commitment in the context of our ultimate stewardship – to give our whole life back to God.  As proclaimed in the first Scripture reading from the Book of Maccabees, the stewardship of the brothers and their mother was not just 10%; it is about giving our whole life back to God.  We belong to God.  How much of ourselves can we afford to give? 

The Gospel answer to that question is clear and unmistakable.  As long as our loving continues to give to us, we are never to stop giving in the service of one another.

May we take the next few minutes either to fill out a stewardship commitment card or if your card is ready to be placed in the collection, simply be still in the presence of our loving God.

Have a Blessed Day.