October 2019 - Pastoral Letter To The Faithful Of The Miami Archdiocese

A proper understanding of our role as “stewards of God’s varied grace” can help us truly be “missionary disciples.” ... Made in His own image and likeness, God made us for Himself and in his plan; he has made us stewards of his creation that we might respond to his love in kind so that, cooperating with him, we use our gifts for his greater honor and glory.

Stewardship — placing our time, talent and treasure at his disposal — is then the path of discipleship by which we grow in our friendship with God, and with one another, becoming in Christ, through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the persons that God meant for us to be...

[Stewardship] is not just a “program” to increase the Sunday offertory. It is really something much more demanding. More than a “fundraising” gimmick, stewardship rightly understood is a way of life. So, it is something much more difficult than just writing a check. Becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, given our fallen human nature, goes against the grain of our propensity for self-seeking, self-assertion and self-realization. (Isn’t the multiplication of warehouses that rent space for “self-storage” a sad commentary on our culture of acquisitiveness?)

But a good steward accepts joyfully the risks of discipleship. To be a friend of Jesus calls us to “come out of ourselves.” However, this is not a burden imposed upon us. To be a Christian is far from being a burden, it is a gift — and, to follow Christ, offering him in return our own gifts of time, talent and treasure, brings us joy, a joy that gives meaning and direction to our lives.