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Home / Offices & Ministries / Christ Our Hope Pastoral Letter / Part Three: Eucharistic stewardship
Part Three: Eucharistic stewardship
We are stewards of gifts and blessings that do not belong to us. Everything about our lives is a gift from God. In the U.S. Bishops' 2002 pastoral letter on stewardship, we are reminded that "… as Christian stewards, we receive God's gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord."
The archdiocese, along with our parishes and schools, agencies and institutions, is especially conscious to exercise careful and deliberate decision making when using all the resources entrusted to us. As Church leaders, we are called to be much more than just practical or thrifty; we know that good stewardship is also an act of faith, an act of witness and thanks to our Creator, an act of solidarity with our brothers and sisters.
As Catholic Christians, we celebrate our stewardship as we gather for the Holy Eucharist. We give back to the Heavenly Father all that He first gave us. When we offer the bread and wine, we are offering our daily labor, our joys and our sorrows. The Lord, in turn, accepts what we offer and transforms it, consecrating it into His Body and Blood. He then returns it to us as nourishment for our body and spirit, trusting that we, in turn, will keep the cycle going as we share our resources with our brothers and sisters.
Our communion with the Lord necessitates a communion with each other. Communion can only happen when there is first some sacrifice, a decision to allow ourselves to be diminished. In the Holy Eucharist we enter into the sacrifice of Christ and recognize that everything we are and everything we have is a sharing in His redeeming transforming love.
To celebrate and fully appreciate the rich potential of the Holy Eucharist, we need to think of this sacrament as a true sharing of gifts, asking ourselves what do we bring to the Lord and what we need to receive from Him. Our holy exchange of gifts is not only about material things, but first and foremost about compassion and mercy.
For prayerful reflection:
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What gift would I like to offer the Lord this Christmas?
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What gift do I receive from Him?
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What gift do I receive from others?
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How can I put the Eucharist into action by being more generous with others in need or by being willing to humbly admit my own vulnerability and dependence on my own need to receive?
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Do I believe in the power of prayer and that in many ways prayer is our greatest resource?
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