Stewardship about love of Jesus
By Frank Flegel
WEYBURN, Sask. — ”This will be an informal talk about stewardship,” said Archbishop Daniel Bohan as he addressed Holy Family School Division teachers and staff following their Sept. 10 opening mass for the school year.
The archbishop explained he was asked to talk about stewardship, the school division’s theme for the year, but his schedule had been such that he had little time to prepare anything formal. However, without notes, for about 45 minutes, he described stewardship as being grateful to God for the gifts each has received from him and those gifts are a sign that God loves us. Nowhere in his presentation did he associate stewardship with money or donations. It was all about love of Jesus and saying thank you for his gifts.
He related stewardship to the revitalization of the faith. We know, he said, that many of our Catholic students do not attend church, but there are also young people who have the joy and fire of the faith in their hearts. “Stewardship is about life itself and it is essential for the revitalization of the faith.” And Jesus is at the heart of our faith.
“Stewardship is the way I follow Jesus,” he said. “It is really gratitude for the gifts we receive from God.
“What in my own life is my own doing?” he asked. He noted that he had a couple of university degrees and an ability to learn but he said those are gifts from God. “I co-operated with God, but it came from God. I am alive because of God.”
Your ability to teach; he said, is a gift from God and so is just about everything in our lives. “It is a sign that God loves me and can we see how important it is to be grateful.”
“When we live as disciples of Jesus, we need to say thank you and that need is about stewardship.” He asked the audience to look in their own lives and teach it to their children. “The Catholic school is a wonderful place where you can bring that joy and enthusiasm to their life.”
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