Diocese of Toledo, Ohio

Browsing From the Pastor

The Spiritual Nature of All that We are About

   Many of us identify spiritual activities with actions such as celebrating Mass, learning more about our Faith and reaching out to others in a variety of ways. Sometimes, people are upset when the topic of money comes up in church. For a number of persons, how we relate to money is a very personal matter. In the thinking of a number of individuals, the Church should not dig into the personal matter of how we relate to money.

   Against this background, a vital facet of our faith life pertains to stewardship. This is a facet of Christian living that our Strategic Planning Sub-Committees have not yet developed. A steward is a person who cares for that which belongs to someone else. The world and all within it belongs to the Lord. As individuals, as families and as parish communities, all that we are and have, including money and what it can buy, has been entrusted to us for a limited period of time by the Lord.  

   A goal of stewardship is to invite and to challenge us to allow our relationship with the Lord to serve as the framework within which we determine how we spend our money. Our relationship with the Lord is incarnational. As one of us, our Lord chose to live in the world in which we live. He and His Apostles had needs that could be met with money. As an extension of His Presence in the world, the Church has needs that can only be met with money.

   By His own example, our Lord illustrates that our greatest need is to live in the spirit of gratitude for all that we are and have. We do this as we give right off of the top of the income that we receive back to the Lord. We are given direction for what our response should be, namely 10% of all that we receive.

   The following can happen when, as an expression of stewardship, we embrace the practice of tithing our income: 1) We will grow in the ability to recognize and to graciously receive what the Lord wants for us. The daily bread for which we pray in the Lord’s Prayer does include those goods and services that can be purchased with money. As we allow the Lord to determine our priorities and then respond to Him as He leads us to do this, we will not be literally sucked into the notion that to be happy, we continually have to have more than what we need to live as the Lord wants us to live. The spiral of wanting more and more does not stop growing. 2) On the basis of prayer, we will grow in the ability to be content with what we need as the Lord wants us to live in this world. 3) We will thus want to avoid being wasteful of that which has been entrusted to us, so that those who come after us will have what they need. 4) Beginning with our own bodies, we will want to take care of that which is now entrusted to us. Good stewardship calls for preventative maintenance both in regard to ourselves and in relation to things that we use. 5) We can spare ourselves and others a lot of needless stress, anxiety and extra work. If, as parish communities, we resolve to fund God’s work primarily as a result of tithing, we could significantly reduce and eventually eliminate the need to hold fundraising activities. Think of what could happen in our parishes if the time and energy that are put into fundraising activities were to be re-channeled into activities and programs that enable us to grow in our Faith and witness of this to others! 6) As tithing becomes natural to us, we will be opening ourselves to a sense of joy and peace that is contagious and accessible for others to embrace as a result of hanging around with us.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor

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