FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: THIRTY-FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR

FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION: 

THIRTY-FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR 

As stewards of Christ’s kingship we are charged to love the world by helping all the things and people God made “to be and be everything they can be” (esse et bene esse).

Invitation:

Imagine every creature, person or group of people God made whose existence is in any way threatened calling out to you: “Do not abandon me… Hurry to help me, be my savior!” Jesus invites you to say yes confidently as a steward of his kingship.

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

For Christians every “sight” is a “site” where God dwells and manifests himself. God is in all things, giving them existence, sharing with us in them something of his own goodness translated into sight, sound, touch, taste and fragrance.

God has entrusted everything that is his to us, to manage it for him. To do this well, we first need to recognize the value of everything that is.

Stewardship is a defining responsibility of the laity, since the laity’s way of life is to “be in the midst of the world and of secular transactions as a kind of leaven.”

Stewardship is salvation. If we try to “save” our lives by keeping them for ourselves, we live “in vain.” If we abandon all to God and for God we find the All.

Self-abandonment through stewardship makes going to church a preview of going home after work where a party is going on.

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

Luke 14: 12-14: Perfect stewardship is to “sell all” in total abandonment, dedicating all we have and are to the service of others for the kingdom.

Luke 14: 15-24: God invites all to his party. But many say they are so absorbed in possessions, work and family concerns that they just haven’t got time for it.

Luke 14: 25-33: The life Jesus gives is an “all for all” proposition. There is no “partial salvation.” Until we love God with all our heart we don’t love him as God.

Luke 15: 1-10:  God seeks us as the steward of our happiness As sharers in his stewardship we cannot rest until the whole world is filled with his joy.

Luke 16: 1-8: Jesus praises the unfaithful steward for looking ahead. He just didn’t look far enough. He was still investing in this world.

Luke 16: 9-15: Paradoxically, if we don’t serve God with our “wealth” we wind up serving it, instead of it 

Decisions:

Never stop with the “bad news.” Always look deeper and farther — to what will be when Christ’s victory is complete.

Look ahead. Use time for eternity. Build for the future here and hereafter.