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

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

Stewardship belongs to the “interim time” until Christ comes again. We draw courage to persevere from: 1. trust in God as Father; 2. the certitude that Christ is going to return in triumph and glory”; 3. prayer and reliance on the Holy Spirit.

Invitation:

See the present in the light of the future, using the divine gift of faith. Work in the present to bring about the future, using the divine gift of hope. Persevere in faithful stewardship until Christ comes again, using the divine gift of love.

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

We who have no fear of death have no need of riches or power or anything else earth has to offer. Our focus is on the “end time,” when Christ will come again in triumph and glory. Our only concern is to be faithful stewards.

In order to realize God’s “plan for the fullness of time” we are committed by Baptism to breaking down all barriers that divide humans into separate camps.

The guiding goal of our efforts to transform Church, culture and world as “stewards of the reign of God,” is to “preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Some members of the community have authority, whose function is to hold the community together in union with the Church throughout the world. But every member is called to leadership, whose function is to move the community forward.

Luke 12: 13-21: Life is stewardship. We simply manage everything we have control over for the short time we are alive.

Luke 12: 35-38: If we have embraced Christ’s plan as the  “treasure” we live and long for, we will keep our minds conscious of it and our wills ready to act for it.

Luke 12: 39-48: Faithful stewards are intent on God’s business all the time. Fidelity calls for constant discernment, attentive to his voice.

Luke 12: 49-53: Jesus came to “light a fire on earth” that is not universally welcome. We are stewards of truth at our risk.

Luke 12: 54-59: One of the clearest “signs of the times” in our day is the Spirit moving Christians to pray and worship together, to share their experiences of God and acknowledge the faith they hold in common.

Luke 13: 1-9: Inherent in our baptismal consecration as king is responsibility for constantly reforming the Church. No one can take this away or dispense us from it.

Decisions:

Each time you feel anxious about something, think of 1. God’s power; 2. his presence within you; 3. his love. Then ask him to help you.

Be Christ’s steward. Look for signs of grace in everyone and nourish them.

React against anything that keeps people from “rejoicing when they go to the house of the Lord.”