I speak to you today as a parishioner of St. Mary’s church, and not as your pastoral associate.I’d like to start by giving you a little background as to how I acquired my philosophy of Stewardship of treasure.
When I was a little girl, there were 12 of us children and two parents. We had only one vehicle and we had to travel from Windsor to OLP in Greeley in order to get to church. Because there were so many of us, we usually had to take turns going to church. Usually our turn came up every other week. I usually got to go more often because somebody was usually sick and couldn’t take their turn going and I was always ready to take their spot. Whether or not it was my turn to go, I was always ready in case a spot opened up.
With a big family, and my father being a Farmer and mom was a “stay at home Mom”, we were by no means wealthy. In fact, we were poor….only we didn’t know it. I can remember dad putting money on the table on Saturday night and we all knew that was his contribution for the church. He would always tell us that God gave us so many blessings, and we should share our blessings with the Church. Each of us would add to the pile at the table whatever we felt was fair. I can recall many times wanting to keep my money because we had so little, and perhaps I was saving for something special…..yet, I knew that I was expected to add something to the pile. Mom would then take the money with her to church and put it into the collection basket. We never even used envelopes. We were never allowed to count the money either, because dad always said that what we gave was between us and God….it was private. What I do know is that we all took it very seriously.
There were so many of us and we always arrived just in the “nick of time” so very often we didn’t even get to sit together. We sat wherever there was a spot. Always the older ones were responsible for the younger ones. So each of us knew who we were to sit with so that we would behave.
When I was a little girl, our main bread was usually Tortillas. We made a huge stack every morning for breakfast, and another one for dinner…..but on Fridays, my mom would always bake bread. She made loves for our lunches, cinnamon rolls for Sunday breakfast, and usually some buns or other specialty breads. She would put all the ingredients in the bowl and kneed the dough until it was smooth and elastic. Then she would grease the bowl and roll the dough around to coat the dough and she would imprint a cross on top of the dough and then cover it and set it in a warm place to rise. She would tell us that the bread is like our lives. God created us with lots of love just like she made the bread with love, then He gave us a cross to carry (not unlike the cross she placed on the dough)…..as we grow, so does our cross. When we are little, our cross is not so big, but as we get older our cross gets bigger because we can carry a bigger cross. By then we are stronger, we know our faith better, and we are more willing to give back to God, what he gave to us. She always said that the more you carry your cross with love and willingness to serve God, the more gifts he gives you to help his church to Grow. As the bread grows, so does the imprint of the cross on the bread……your life is the same.So in my life, I’ve always known that as I grow in money, talents, posessions, wisdom, or whatever…….. my responsibility always increases. I know that what I have is mine because the Lord has given it to me……and I know that all the gifts he gives me are not just for me, but for the whole body of Christ in one way or another.
A few years ago, I was talking with one of my sisters about Church, and how important it is in our lives. She said to me that she really believes in supporting the church financially. “We always put $10.00 in the collection”, she said to me. Well, she and her husband were both working at a Large company and making probably 10 times more money that we made. Bob was trucking and I was a part time DRE at OLV. I looked at her in surprise and said, “Please don’t take this wrong, but Bob and I give $50.00 every week” (that’s what we were giving then) And she looked at me in total surprise. It had never dawned on her that $10.00 was not a whole lot for what they earned. And she said to me, “Wow, we make a lot more than you do!” and I smiled and said, “Yes”. That was the end of the conversation. Now years later, she often thanks me for opening her eyes and helping her to see that she needed to give more to the church. Sometimes people just get used to what they give and never change it. Or they say, “ Dad always put a dollar in the collection and I do the same or I put $5 in the collection”, and they feel good about it. But as their income increases, so should their offering. As inflation goes up, so do the expenses to run a church.
The church has no other income than what we give it. If we want the privelage of having a Catholic church in our community, we have to support it. We have to stick together as a community and see to the upkeep and maintanance of our church. We here at St. Mary’s have recently gone through a difficult time in the change of our Mass Time. There are people who have chosen to stop coming to St. Mary’s, some come only occasionally when Saturday is convenient. Some come and are not happy about it, and some have registered elsewhere. As a result, our congregation has diminished some and our income has gone down considerably.The Lord has blessed St. Mary’s in many ways, not only in the past, but He continues to do so even today! The fact that we don’t have as much money coming in to support the church is really not a great big deal. We tighten up our belts just as we do at home when we don’t have as much money. The bad thing is when we carry around our anger about the change of our schedule and in the process loose interest in supporting our church and especially our community. Nobody is trying to “close us down” or make our lives miserable. There was a need for change, and it happened. The Lord did far greater sacrifices for us than we are asked to make by coming to church on Saturday night rather than Sunday! Please, I ask you to keep these thoughts in mind. It was said of the early Christians, “see how they love one another!” If we’re all walking around angry about something, can that be said of us!?
WE ARE THE CHURCH, YOU AND ME! We are called to be Salt, leaven, and light to all we meet. The body of Christ is made up of all of us! If one of us is missing in the mix, there is a void, a black hole, that someone else will try to fill, but which can only be filled by you! If you are making bread, and you have all the ingredients except the flour, you can measure out the amount in sugar, but any way you look at it, sugar is not flour, so the loaf of bread will not be the same. I am not you, and you are not me! Without you, this church is not the same. If you are called to be the salt in this body of Christ, than be the salt, don’t let someone called to be the milk have to try to be salt too! God is the ingredient that BINDS us together, and he does so with unconditional love.
Just as the egg and the gluten formation caused by the kneeding of the bread is what binds it together, it is God who binds us together….and it is through love that he does it.
So, in conclusion, let us take the message passed on by a simple mother of twelve children ……. As you grow, so does your cross and your responsibility.
Take on that responsibility and don’t wait for someone else to do it for you.Give back to God, as he has given to you! Support your church in all ways possible. Be Salt, Leaven and Light in this world! Let it be said of us, “see how they love one another”!
