Homily for the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time
“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will provide for all peoples.” As we listen to the first lines from today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah we are reminded that the Lord will provide for us. In everything it is important for us as His people to know that God will provide for us all the time.
Perhaps at times it might not be what we want, but He does give us what we need. Our Lord provides for us opportunities to put our faith into practice. As I noted in my pastoral reflection this weekend sometimes things will seem in abundance and in other times we will be “working hard to keep things together.” Saint Paul letter to the Philippians reechoes the words of the prophet Isaiah when He says, “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Yes brothers and sisters the Lord provides for all of us in good times and in bad.
All last month we spoke on the theme “Labor of Love,” and we focused on our talent, our time, and our treasure. I do what to take this opportunity to say one more thing focusing on the word stewardship. Stewardship is defined in the Merrian-Webster dictionary as “the conducting, supervising, or managing of something; especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.” It is important for us to be careful, responsibly manage, and utilize the gifts that God has given us. Together we know the challenges and difficulties of a steward. It is difficult and it’s easy for us to get off track.
How are we being good stewards of the gifts God has provided? As your pastor entrusted with the task of caring for and managing the gifts of the parish, how am I being a steward of those gifts? To assist me in the management of the temporal gifts of the parish I am assisted by the Parish Finance Council whose advice and recommendations I take seriously. Before a single protect is initiated, it is taken to them for advice and counsel. Of course there is sometimes emergency expenditures and in those rare circumstances I would send notice saying this is what is being done and why. Yes the financial council is only advisory, and ultimately the responsibility falls to me, however, at the last Financial Council meeting I told them that if they collectively feel that as pastor I am not fulfilling my role as a steward they have a moral responsibility to speak out because they are your voice.
One of the greatest temptations we have when we have money in the bank is that we tend to spend it on things that we do not need or things that can wait a couple of years. Having money in the bank is a good thing and it has been a blessing for us in recent months. The projects we have undertaken the last couple months are not luxuries but necessities. Security is a necessity, fixing the boiler is a necessity, and repairing odds and ends is a necessity. Stewardship isn’t limited to the theme of money for we must be good stewards of our talents and our time. Each one of us knows all too well how easy it is to lose track of time. We get lost in watching our favorite reruns on television or get lost surfing the web. It’s so easy! We must budget our time wisely. Then we must ask ourselves are we using the gifts God has given us to their fullest potential. Remember all of us have a talent, a talent in which God has given us, a talent which is meant to be shared.
Being good stewards, going out into the world can be a daunting task. Yet as we learned from this weekend’s readings our Lord will provide for our needs. He will give us everything we need for the journey.
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