Last week, I preached about turning back to God. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” in a way, this summarizes the whole Gospel, because that is the most important thing we do: turn back to God and follow him. We must strive to listen to God and not those other voices that seek to lead us away from him. This is the lifelong work of a Christian disciple.
This work of turning back to God and following him is the first step of living a life of stewardship, because a steward is, before all else, a disciple of Jesus Christ. A steward follows God and recognizes and receives the gifts God gives. When we think about stewardship, we are tempted to jump to sharing God’s gifts, but it is important to stop and consider the part in between–the recognizing and receiving of the gifts.
If a steward is someone who recognizes and receives God’s gifts before sharing them, it means that stewardship is not, first and foremost, about raising money. It’s not about volunteering for hours and hours. It’s not, really, about what we do or some kind of activism. It is about living a life where we recognize God’s work and are open to receiving it.
We might be tempted, for example, to think that our prayer only “works” if we did enough to feel something, or that Mass only “counts” if we stayed busy doing things or if we were sufficiently moved in our emotions or even if we were able to receive the Eucharist. But that’s not actually the truth. That’s not how God and his grace works. We like to think that God acts only when we are doing something, because that gives us control over the situation, but the grace we receive from prayer, from Mass, from God in general, it is not a wage or some reward for how much effort we put in. It is a gift from our Father who loves us. The most important thing we do is show up and give God permission to work.
That’s not to say we do nothing! After all, I began this homily saying we need to turn actively to God. As we turn to God, we must be open to these gifts, and this is where the work comes in. The Beatitudes describe how to live in this way. When we are poor in spirit, we recognize all we have is a gift from God. When we mourn, we recognize that not everyone has the same gifts as us. When we are meek, we do not grasp for things, but receive what is given. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we seek to do God’s will, not our own. When we are merciful, we give from what we have already received. When we are clean of heart, we seek God without divided motives in our hearts. When we strive to be peacemakers, we build communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The Beatitudes describe the heart of a disciple and of a steward. They describe the heart of someone who lets Christ shape his or her life.
St. Paul teaches us that to be disciples of Christ, we must be like athletes preparing to compete. The athlete practices and sacrifices and runs to win a crown of laurels. It’s a crown of those bay leaves that you put in soup and wonder if they do anything, that’s what they’d give winners, it’s what they’d give the generals and emperors returning victorious from battle. It’s a crown that will one day turn to dust. God offers us an eternal crown of glory, should we not put at least as much effort into our own lives so that we can receive that gift? The disciplined life of holiness we are called to live opens us to the gift of life that God desires to give us.
Remember the parable of the workers in the vineyard, which only makes sense in the context of gift. The landowner goes out over and over, he seeks workers out, and then he gives the same wage to all. The first workers grumble, because they think that they are earning a wage. The last workers rejoice, because they recognize that they have been given a gift. The workers in the vineyard all work to open themselves to the gift of the generous landowner.
God always seeks to give us himself, to fill us with the gift of his life and love. Our task is to receive these gifts, to trust in God, and to allow him to shape our lives. When we stop trying to control everything, and approach God prepared to receive these gifts, his grace finally has room to work.
Stewardship, at its heart, has little to do with programs, with money, with doing more activities. It’s about openness to God so He can live within you. A steward recognizes God’s gifts, receives them with humility, and responds to them with gratitude. Only after all this does a steward lovingly make use of these gifts and return them to God. Programs, money, and all that, they are important, but they flow out of these gifts God gives us. We receive from God first, and only afterwards do we give.
This year, I’m not necessarily asking you to do more (although that would be nice). I am not asking you to be busy about a thousand things like Martha. This year, I ask that you become more open to God so that you can receive more and let God work in you more. Once that happens and we are filled with God’s love, we won’t have to think about our response, because the love of God will stir us forward.