FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: 

TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

It is faith in God’s fidelity and forgiveness that gives us confidence that, no matter how unfaithful we have been, God calls us to exercise leadership in the Church.

Invitation:

God invites us to offer ourselves as “stewards of his kingship” with and in “Christ who offered his life in the service of all.” This alone gives peace.

Our faith: How many of these statements do you believe? And live?

The right and obligation to offer leadership is inherent in the stewardship of all the baptized. Leadership is simply responsibility in action. It does not require authority.

We are the “Sinners Club.” When we assemble for Mass we are comfortable with everybody except those who are comfortable with themselves.

When so many parishes and families have been unable to pass on their faith to the next generation it means all of us: laity, clergy and bishops, need to bring about changes in personal, parish and family life.

Luke 7:1-10: suggests that we who are “card-carrying Catholics” might actually have less faith in Jesus than some who profess not to believe in him! Or perhaps are not in “good standing” with the Church. “You will know them by their fruits.”

Luke 7:11-17: the Spirit is manifest when we are “moved with pity.” Jesus revealed his love first, then his power in raising the young man from the dead.

Luke 7:31-35: anyone who deeply does not desire God’s reign will always find a reason to reject him and his messengers. We, as stewards of Christ’s kingship, try to “become all things to all people,” but our focus is on 

fidelity, not on popularity.

Luke 7:36-50: if we don’t know Jesus, love him personally, and present him to others first and foremost as the heart, soul and substance of our religion, we are taking the “one talent” that is absolutely essential, and burying it in the ground

Luke 8:1-3: stewardship means to live totally for Jesus and the kingdom now — not physically leaving “house or family,” but directing everything we do at home, work and school toward establishing the reign of God on earth.

Luke 8:4-15: our call as “stewards of the kingship of Christ” is to foster in ourselves and others the human receptivity and cooperation required to make our society (home, parish, school, country) an environment receptive to God’s word.

Decisions:

Be a trusting steward: don’t let anything stop you from doing what you can.

Be a steward of the mystery of Christ. Be known as a “Christ-ian.”

Be a wholehearted steward. Give everything to God, then manage it for him.

Be a steward of Christ’s kingship. Build a world receptive to grace.

Be a steward of the greater gifts. Work to change anything that obscures faith, hope and love in the Church and in the world.