From the standpoint of Catholic thought, the term stewardship refers to our recognition that everything we have is a gift from God and that we are intended to share those gifts with each other. Unfortunately, for too many people, stewardship is viewed as simply giving money: they think their stewardship obligation is satisfied by weekly offerings at Mass.
However, if we take stewardship seriously, we need to consider more than simply how much we contribute to our parish each week. Instead, we need to consider the choices we make in our every day lives and their implications for the world and our brothers and sisters. In the words of my parish’s stewardship brochure this year,
As Christians and as responsible world citizens, we must also make everyday choices based on more than self-interest. We must recognize that, as individuals, families and communities, we will either contribute to the problems of the world or pledge our efforts to the solutions.
Thus, we need to think carefully about things like what products we buy and what kinds of businesses we buy them from. Every decision we make has implications. Are we making thoughtful, positive choices are only thinking about ourselves?
Creo en Dios! 