Reflections and Prayers

Reflections and Prayers
What is stewardship?
Stewardship is an expression of discipleship,
with the power to change
how we understand and live out our lives.
Disciples
who practice stewardship
recognise God
as the origin of life,
the giver of freedom,
the source of all they have and are and will be. .
… They know themselves to be recipients and caretakers
of God’s many gifts.
They are grateful
for what they have received
and eager to cultivate their gifts
out of love for God
and one another.
(Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response: Introduction)

A good stewardship question is:
‘What do I own and what owns me?’  (Archbishop Thomas Murphy)

It is not so much that we do things for others but rather Jesus is doing something for others through us.  Being aware of the difference between ‘for’ and through’ changes our whole manner of service.  That is why prayer is so important: it keeps reminding us that all stewardship is ultimately the work of the Lord taking place through the actions of faithful disciples.
(Bishop Robert Morneau)

Christian stewardship, most basically, involves being grateful to God for the gift of our call, living freely and responsibly with, in and from that gift.
…Christian stewardship helps us to realize that the answer to the all-pervasive alienation, anxiety and unhappiness in our time is to be grateful for what we have been given as opposed to feeling sorry for ourselves and coveting our neighbour’s goods.  Awareness of God’s abundant gifts changes our whole attitude toward life.  Giving thanks brings healing and hope.
(Cardinal Roger Mahoney, Pastoral Letter on Stewardship)

 

God’s gifts to us
Everything we have and are is gift from God.

There is no one so rich they cannot receive nor so poor they have nothing to give.

We are not the starting point for the giving – we are passing on some of what we’ve received.

Gratitude to God
The Holy Spirit is God eternally giving himself; like a never-ending spring he pours forth nothing less than himself. In view of this ceaseless gift, we come to see the limitations of all that perishes, the folly of the consumerist mindset. We begin to understand why the quest for novelty leaves us unsatisfied and wanting. Are we not looking for an eternal gift? The spring that will never run dry? With the Samaritan woman, let us exclaim: give me this water that I may thirst no more! (cf. Jn 4:15).
(Pope Benedict XVI, Vigil with Young People, World Youth Day July 08)

‘Thanks’ turns what we have into enough.  It is the difference between ‘having what you want’ and ‘wanting what you have’.  To give thanks is to realise something of the magnitude of what we possess in Jesus Christ.  With St Paul we say: ‘Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift’. (2 Cor 9:15)
(Donal Harrington, Exploring Eucharist, p53)

If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘thank you’, that is enough.  (Meister Eckhardt)

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,
we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.
You have no need of our praise,
yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift.
Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to your greatness,
but makes us grow in your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Weekday Preface IV)      

A LITANY OF GENEROSITY

Lord,
We come before you today to ask you to help us be more generous.
We pray:

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may fully appreciate all your many gifts to us.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may give without counting the cost.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may share without expecting something in return.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may know the joy that comes from helping others.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may share all that you have given us.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may hold all our treasures in an open hand.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may recognize the many blessings in each new day.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may learn the difference between what we need and what we want.

ALL: Gracious God, give us generous hearts…
Leader: ...so we may ever thank you and serve you.

Leader: Lord, we ask all of this, knowing that you will always give us all that we need. Bless the work we do for you today and always.
ALL: Amen

 

Generosity
Teach us to be generous, good Lord; teach us to serve You as You deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing we do Your will.
(St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Giving back to God
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace.
That is enough for me.
(St. Ignatius of Loyola)

Lord Jesus,
I give you my hands to do your work, I give you my feet to go your way,
I give you my eyes to see as you do,
I give you my tongue to speak your words,
I give you my mind that you may think in me,
I give you my spirit that you may pray in me,
Above all, I give you my heart that you may love in me your Father and all humanity,
I give you my whole self that you may grow in me, so that it is you,
Lord Jesus who live and work and pray in me.
(Grail Prayer)

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
(Winston Churchill)

My church is composed of people like me.
I help make it what it is.
It will be friendly, if I am.
Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
It will do great work, if I work.
It will make generous gifts to many causes,
If I am a generous giver.
It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship,
If I invite and bring them.
It will be a church of loyalty and love,
 of fearlessness and faith,
And a church with a noble spirit,
If I, who make it what it is,
Am filled with these same things.
Therefore, with the help of God,
I shall dedicate myself to the task of BEING
All the things that I want my church to be.
(Author Unknown)

 

Being the Body of Christ
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which is to look out
Christ's compassion to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about
doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless people now.
(St. Teresa of Avila)