Stewardship Renewal
Called to communion with God, St. Joseph’s strives to be a family of families who serve God through beautiful and reverent worship: a sacred haven where people know they are welcomed and loved by Jesus. There is always a place for you at St. Joseph's, where Stewardship is a way of life.
Praying gratefully means attending Weekday and Sunday Mass, participating in family prayer, including a family rosary, reading daily or weekly from the Bible or joining a Bible study group. It means visiting our Lord in the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. There are so many ways that we can offer our prayers back to Him. We say that we pray "gratefully" because we must always take the time for gratitude in our prayers even in adversity. There are times in our lives that are difficult and it is hard to get through an hour let alone a day or a week. These times are especially important for our spiritual life because this is when we see the weaknesses in our armor of faith and love. This is when our thoughts and our knee jerk reactions really show us in what areas we need healing and growth. When we acknowledge these things we learn where we are lacking and we can then ask our God for the graces we need to be strong; strong in our heart, in our mind, and in our faith. Strong for the glory of God! "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)
Serving responsibly is one of the most versatile parts of stewardship because you can customize it to your particular interests and skills. Some examples of areas where you can serve responsibly are: teaching catechism, helping in the library, serving the poor, staffing events, working in the parish bookstore, getting involved in social or fellowship organizations, serving as a liturgical minister and many other ways. We must be good stewards of our gifts and share them with our family at home and with our parish family. We serve "responsibly" because we must find a balance to use the gifts God has given us freely and efficiently. "Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. As each one received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 4:8-11)
Giving generously is usually either the easiest or the hardest part of stewardship. Giving can mean financial gifts or gifts in kind. The tithe can be gifted to our Church by using E-Giving or weekly envelopes. All things are given to us by God including our bodies, our capacity to learn and act, and all the fruit we are able to harvest from our labor. By donating to the church we return some of what God has given us so that it may bless our parish families. The tithe is an equally important part of evangelization as is prayer and service. God doesn't just 'keep' your sacrifice/donation, He multiplies it and returns it to you one way or another. "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, That there may be food in my house. Put me to the test , says the LORD of hosts, And see if i do not open the floodgates of heaven for you, and pour down upon you blessing without measure! I will rebuke the locust for you so that it will not destroy your crops, And the vine in the field will not be barren, says the LORD of hosts." (Malachi 3:10-11)
