“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (Mt. 22: 21).  As we hear in today’s reading from St. Matthew’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.  And so, on this Stewardship Weekend, I invite you to reflect on how we can all be better stewards, using our time, talent and treasure to build up God’s kingdom right here in our midst.

We read throughout the Bible that God commands us to love him with all our heart, all our understanding and all our strength.  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.  And, we rejoice that his Son has given us his life-giving Body and Blood to nourish us on our journey.

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).

Finally, we hear our risen Lord command his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19,20).  We who have experienced Jesus’ saving work in our lives are called to share our faith with those around us and lead them to an ever-deepening encounter with our Lord.

Next weekend, we will observe, once again, Stewardship Sunday as we kick off our Annual Stewardship Appeal.  Stewardship is what we do once we say “I believe.”  As we grow in our faith we need to ensure that all of our resources, including our treasure, are adequate for this essential work of worshiping God, caring for the needy and sharing our faith.  I want to thank you for your generous past response and ask you to prayerfully consider how you can even more generously provide the financial support we need to accomplish our mission as a parish.  As you experience increased costs at home and work, we are experiencing increased costs to pay the salaries and benefits of our 52 parish and school staff members as well as for the maintenance of all of our beautiful facilities that are used by so many organizations and activities to accomplish the mission of our parish: to worship God and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you haven’t yet, you will soon receive my Annual Stewardship Appeal letter, along with a brochure that highlights the ways in which we are worshiping our God, engaging our fellow parishioners and sharing our faith.  As faithful stewards, it is our privilege to worship God and share the precious gift our faith.  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 and proclaim our love for our Lord.