“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22: 21). As we heard in last week’s Gospel, when some of the religious leaders try to trap Jesus with a question about whether or not to pay the Roman taxes, Jesus reminds his listeners that everything belongs to God; after all, he is the creator of the universe and gives us all that we have. We read in the Bible that, after God had created the heavens and the earth, he planted a garden and placed man there to tend it for him. We also read that God blessed Solomon when he built a magnificent temple to God. When Peter acclaimed Jesus as Messiah, Jesus told him, “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” And, we read throughout the Bible that God commands us to love him with all our heart, all our understanding and all our strength.
And so, first of all, we are called to adore and worship God. Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we proclaim that God’s glory fills all of creation and we rejoice, proclaiming “Heaven and earth are full of your glory! Hosanna in the highest!” We thank God for all his blessings as we learn about how, down through the ages, he has called us back to himself and then, in the fullness of time, sent his Son to show us the way back to Him. Our beautiful church reminds us of God’s goodness to us; our stained glass windows recall God’s work of creation and salvation. The cruciform of our church and the crucifix above the tabernacle recall our Lord’s saving work on the cross. And, we are called to store up treasures in heaven for “where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21).
Sacred Scripture also teaches us, over and over again, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our worship of God – who has blessed us in so many ways – leads us, in gratitude, to want to share this good news of our salvation with others. So, we use our time, talent and treasure to make God’s goodness known to everyone. We care, in a special way, for those who are forgotten by the rest of society or who struggle, for one reason or other. We recall that our eternal destiny depends on our love of neighbor: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink” (Mt 25:34+35). As I noted in my article last week, so many of you are very generous throughout the year as you are called to care for the needs of those in our neighborhood, archdiocese and, indeed, throughout the world. You realize that “You cannot serve both God and mammon” (Lk 16:13) and so, you share your blessings with those in need. Both our worship of God and love for our neighbor are aspects of stewardship which, as I noted last week, is what we do after we say “I believe!” Since you believe in God who has created us in love and called us to love him and our neighbor, you are called to stewardship.
This week, we observe, once again, Stewardship Sunday as we kick off our Annual Stewardship Appeal. Over the past several years, you heard of stewardship in our parish. More than six years ago, I re-established our Stewardship Committee. Four years ago, the Stewardship Committee hosted a Stewardship Festival which highlighted all of the parish organizations that lead us in worship of God, evangelization and catechesis, community-building, and service. Over the past three years, the Stewardship Committee has helped you to sign up on Flocknote, which allows everyone in the parish to keep updated on parish activities, and Parish Giving, an electronic giving platform that simplifies financial support of your parish. I want to thank the many of your who have signed up for Flocknote; over 1,300 families in our parish receive regular parish notifications through this platform. And, I am also grateful to all of you who have signed up on Parish Giving. To date, 288 families now use Parish Giving to support our parish. This gives us a steady source of income throughout the year, allowing us to control our budget so much better.
Last year, you responded very generously to our initial Annual Stewardship Appeal. This important annual appeal raised over $190,000 and, along with the very successful Leap for SKS fundraising event for our school, we were able to operate in the black last year for the first time in five years. So, I invite you, once again, to examine how well you are repaying to God what belongs to God. And, in thanksgiving for God’s mercy and generous love, I suggest that you give from the abundance of the gifts he has given to you. It may be a tithe, or more or less, but may it come out of gratitude to a gracious and loving God.
If you haven’t done so yet, you will soon receive my Annual Stewardship Appeal letter, along with a brochure that highlights the various aspects of this important stewardship initiative. As you will read in the brochure, our parish has been blessed with a long history. God has provided our parish with so many gifts. As faithful stewards, it is now our job to cultivate these gifts for ourselves and future generations of Catholics that will call St. Katharine of Siena parish their spiritual home. Please read my letter carefully and prayerfully consider how you can contribute to the financial strength of your parish where we gather to worship God and are sent forth to love our neighbor.