Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the second Sunday of our Parish and Newman Center’s month-long Stewardship

Campaign! Last week Fr. Remi wrote a beautiful reflection on how stewardship is the lifestyle of

a disciple who lives out of their deepest identity – a beloved son or daughter of our good and

generous Father. As children of God, we were not made to live in isolation. We were created

from communion and for communion. We are members of one FAMILY, of One Body. Living as

stewards draws us deeper into this joyful and fulfilling communion!

The Father has created each of us – His children – absolutely unique. We are each irreplaceable

and unrepeatable members in the Body of Christ. We need one another. Saint Paul dramatizes

this reality when he says in his first letter to the Corinthians, “If the whole body were an eye,

where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of

smell?” (1 Cor 12:17). From all eternity, the Father knew the unique gifts and talents he would

give to each of us. And He intentionally designed it so that we would NEED one another.

But why? Why did the Father create us needy? We can look to Saint Paul again to find the

answer: “For he has made known to us in a all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will,

according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite

all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth” (Eph 5:9-10). Or even to Christ Jesus

himself: “Father [I pray]…that they may all be one” (John 17:20). The Heart of God longs for His

children to be in communion. Sharing ourselves with one another, in the form of our time and

talent, draws us into this communion. Self-gift is how we become who we were created to be.

This is much different than the culture of pursuing radical independence!

I pray that throughout this month each of us comes to a deeper understanding of the unique

gift that we are to the Body of Christ, and that we may be inspired to share our time and talent

with one another and, ultimately, with our God who longs to receive us in communion. It is a

sacrificial path, but one of immense JOY!

God bless you all,

Molly Bent, FOCUS missionary & Stewardship Council Member