Dear Friends in Christ:
During the last half century, a new word has been introduced into our Catholic lexicon; “stewardship”. There is something peculiar about this “new” term. While it is popular with “professional” church people (clergy and laity involved in ministry), Catholic and Protestant, it is not as popular among the people in the pews. Another thing about stewardship is that it is often used interchangeably with “money”. As in ‘giving money’, ‘fund raising’, ‘donations’, ‘contributions’, ‘tithing’, ‘collections’, etc. It is interesting that there is no word in Spanish and in many other languages for stewardship! The words that are used in other languages are akin to administration, almsgiving or offering. None of these words exactly capture the meaning of stewardship. In the Bible, the word stewardship does not appear at all, while the term steward does. In the New Testament, it appears only twice as “oikonomous” in Greek (oikos – house and nemo – apportion). It is of the same derivation as our English word economy. The etymology of the English word stewardship is fascinating. It is from Old English: sty – a place to lodge (as in a pig sty) and ward – to guard or watch over. Thus, we have our modern understanding of stewardship as the managing or watching over what has been afforded and entrusted to us by another. A steward is not the owner but cares for the lodging or possessions of another.
Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, teach us that human beings are the stewards of all that God, our creator, has afforded and entrusted us with. We are to be the stewards of creation, life, possessions, time, etc. These goods are for our use and our benefit, but we are not the masters or owners. A steward is the guardian, protector, and manager of the goods. Stewards watch over and care for these gifts that come from God. A godly steward is the recipient of God’s trust. In the church, when we speak of stewardship there is an acknowledgment of dependence and responsibility. We acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God on whom we are dependent. At the same time, we have the responsibility to use these gifts appropriately and to care for them because ultimately, they are not ours.
What are the gifts that God has entrusted us with that we are to be good stewards of and practice good stewardship? Among the many gifts are these: time, opportunities, relationships, material possessions, health, abilities, talents, knowledge, money and truth. When we begin to recognize that each of these gifts are from God and not of our own making, we will treat them differently. We will begin to live differently and happier and better.
Time is a gift that is only given to us for a while. Every day, every hour and every minute is entrusted to us. There will be a day when time will run out and there will be nothing that we can do about it. None of us are the masters of time, but all of us can be the stewards of the time that we are given. We can use the time we have been entrusted with in our lives or we can waste it. We can use the time we have to build up the Kingdom of God and to give Him glory or we can use the gift of time for selfish and meaningless pursuits or worse, we can waste time. We can make our time on this earth count, or we can merely count our time on this earth. Relationships are another gift from God to which we are to be faithful stewards. Family and friends are gifts to be cherished and treasured. Good stewards take care of relationships, including our relationship with God. The one who treats relationships only in self-interest, will soon not have many to worry about. Good friendships and families take work and effort to maintain in a healthy way. They are not magic and they do not just happen. Like a beautiful garden, they must be cared for and nurtured.
Money is another gift for which we must be good stewards. Money is always more than money! It represents our efforts, ability, and time. How we use our money reveals our values. It is not about how much money is in our bank account. It is about what we do with the money in our bank account. Do we sit around and count our money, or do we make our money count? Are we frivolous and foolish? Are we selfish and greedy? Do we see our money as ours and the result of our efforts alone and to do with as we please? Or are we prudent and generous with our money? A good steward sees money as a gift from God and a means to do good. Our bodies and our health are also gifts given to us by God. We did not create our bodies and do not have the right to abuse or mutilate them. A good steward respects their body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. We care for our bodies by being healthy and not harming ourselves. A good steward respects the bodies of others and that includes how we emotionally, physically, socially and sexually treat others. In response to Cain’s question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gn 4:9), the correct answer is yes! We are stewards of our bodies, our neighbors and creation. We did not create them, but we are to care for them prudently and respectfully.