Stewardship Reflection – August 9th

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 KGS 19:9A, 11-13A; PS 85:9-14; ROM 9:1-5; MT 14:22-23

Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition of the simple fact that all we have is a gift from Him.

Today’s readings illustrate what amazing things can happen when we fully invite God to take charge of our lives by embracing the stewardship way of life.

When we take our eyes off God, we fail to see that all we have is a gift from Him. We lose trust in the Lord and we do not make our lives a grateful response to Him.

Peter makes this mistake in our Gospel passage from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples in a boat ahead of Him to the other side of the shore. Later that evening, Jesus casually strolls up to the boat, walking on the sea. He invites Peter to join Him. As Peter begins to walk on the water, he momentarily takes his eyes off Jesus to notice the strong wind surrounding them. With that, he sinks.

But what if Peter had not taken his eyes off Christ? What a grand adventure he could have experienced walking on the sea with Jesus! When we take our eyes off Christ, the many blessings He has given us, and the loving way He treats us, we sink, too.

When we embrace the stewardship way of life — letting go of a tight hold over our money, time and talents — our lives become a grand adventure, rooted firmly and gratefully in the God Who always cares for us.

— Stewardship Reflections by Catholic Stewardship Consultants