June 9, 2013 –– Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 17: 17-24; Ps 30: 2, 4-6, 11-13; Gal 1: 11-19; Lk 7: 11-17
Stewardship is referred to most often as “a way of life.” We also often hear that a stewardship way of life requires a personal conversion of mind and heart.
In today’s second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul refers again to his own dramatic conversion. Yet, there is something deeper in his words. Paul wrote the letter because divisions had developed in the Church he, Paul, had established in Galatia. At the base of the disagreement was whether or not Gentiles had to conform to Jewish law to become and be Christians. Paul makes it clear that they do not.
This has a much more profound meaning for the Galatian community, and for us today as well. According to Paul, a person of faith is transformed (as he personally was) and that change means that the convert — the steward if you will — has a different motivation than she or he had previously.
The good steward does what is right because that is the way to live — a reflection of Jesus’ own life — not because of obligation or duty. The steward is not conforming to a set of laws, but to live the way Jesus called us to live. That was Paul’s message to the Galatians, and that same message applies to us.
