Today make an inventory of your economic, physical and spiritual assets and assess if they have been well-managed - Daily Reflections November 6,2015

ON CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP

 

Every Sunday at Mass, we proclaim in the Apostle’s Creed, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” The Nicene Creed’s version is more insightful. It goes: “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.”

       “Of all that is seen and unseen” — God owns everything, not only the visible world but even the invisible. Nothing escapes His authority. The Christian God is not just one deity among many others. God is beyond the world. No one and nothing therefore is beyond God’s province and provenance. It is also within this framework that we should understand the biblical principle, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). What is Caesar’s? Limited jurisdiction. What is God’s? Unlimited jurisdiction and boundless allegiance.

       The Gospel parable speaks of a rich man who calls on his manager to make an accounting of all his property. God is the rich  man. We are all His managers. If God owns everything, then even as managers we are but stewards. Everything that we have, we possess only in borrowed time, in limited fashion. Since we are but stewards, we will face the owner during the time of reckoning. There will be a time of accounting.

       As tenants and stewards of God’s gifts, we are given the privilege to dispose of God’s wonderful creation. The question we need to ask is this: Did my enjoyment of God’s bounty take the direction of responsible use or did it take the path of misuse and abuse? One way to determine the answer is to imagine ourselves at the end of our life’s journey. Christian writer Rick Warren proposes an insightful imagery: “When your time comes, can you say  like Jesus, ‘It is finished,’ or would you say, ‘I am finished.’” “It is finished” means mission accomplished. “I am finished” means mission failed.

       Fellow steward, what will it be for you? Fr. Joel Jason

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Today make an inventory of your economic, physical and spiritual assets and assess if they have been well-managed.

 

At the sunset of my life, may I gladly face You, O Lord, and say, “It is finished.” Amen.