What is My Role as a Steward?
September 2, 2016 Friday Twenty-Second Week of Year II
The Responsorial (Psalm 37) gives focus: “The salvation of the just comes from the
Lord.”
In 1Corinthians 4:1-5 Paul
tells us that we should think of him and of ourselves as “servants of Christ
and stewards of God’s mysteries.” Is that the thought we all wake up with in
the morning?
Servants, maybe. But “stewards” — what is that?
A steward is by definition the one who is responsible. That is why Paul continues: “The first thing required
of stewards is that they prove trustworthy.” Worthy of trust. Because trust has
been placed in them.
What trust has God placed in us? To take responsibility for what?
Paul has said it: we are “stewards of God’s mysteries.” We are responsible for
“managing” the “mysteries” revealed and entrusted to us as Christians. What
does that mean?
It means, first, that we preserve
them. Paul summed up his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the race, I have kept the faith.”
That is not a small accomplishment, especially in our day when so many have
ceased to gather or “assemble” with us for Eucharist.[1]
But just to “keep” the faith is not enough, as Jesus has made
penetratingly clear. We have to do
something with the grace and gifts entrusted to us. Grow them, develop
them, use them for others. If not, we are “worthless servants” and unfaithful
stewards.[2]
The Responsorial Psalm
tells us: “The salvation of the just
comes from the Lord.” True. But it is nurtured and extended to others by
those consecrated in Baptism to be “stewards of his kingship.” When “the Lord
comes,” he will judge how trustworthy we have been. Paul did not presume to
judge himself, but he did share with Timothy his confidence that “there is
reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have
longed for his appearing.” If we can go to bed saying that, we are probably
waking up as “faithful stewards” in the morning.
In Luke 5:3-39 Jesus defines himself as Bridegroom, the Church as
his Bride, heaven as a wedding feast, religion as longing for union with him,
and religious practices such as “fasting,” in its many forms, as an expression
of that longing. The “new wine” that inebriates us at the wedding feast is
grace, the divine life of God, for which we need to become a “new creation” by
dying and rising with Jesus in Baptism. That is a summary of the “mysteries”
entrusted to our stewardship. To be “faithful” we need to find our identity in them as Christians, ponder them as disciples
until we understand them, make them visible them in our lifestyle as prophets, express them in ministry to
others as priests, and as stewards the Kingdom restructure our
society and culture to be in harmony with them.[3]
Initiative: Be a steward. Manage what you know and know
what you manage.
[1]
2Timothy 4:6-8. Some say they have
not “left the Church,” just “left it
alone” for awhile. But since “church” (Greek ekklesia, Hebrew qahal)
means “gathering” or “assembly,” in practice they are dangerously similar. How
real is a faith that does not embrace Eucharist?
[2]
Matthew 25:14-30; 1Peter 4:10; Luke 17:10.
[3]
See also Matthew 25:1; John 2:1-11; 3:29; 2Corinthians 5:17; 11:2; Galatians
6:15; Revelation 19:6-9; 21:1-9; 22:17.
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