The idea of tithing is mentioned 39 times in the Old Testament and 11 times in the New Testament. Yet, often we hear Catholics complain that all their priest talks about is money. These Catholics don’t realize that the parish is not the priest’s parish, but their own parish.
This is where the change of approach in these people’s lives with regard to the stewardship way of life needs to develop. They need to know that the priest really is only an instrument to help guide them along the way and to bring God into their own lives.
I always stress we are given many gifts by God, but the most important gift is the Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ had not come among us, we could never get to heaven. Christ cares enough to teach us how to approach God Our Father. God left us the great sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, where by he joins His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity with our body and blood, soul and humanity in such an intimate way that we’ll never be closer to God.
When we are at the reception of Holy Communion, we can never thank Christ enough for coming among us. We can never thank God enough for sending Christ to us. This is the basis for the stewardship way of life. A thanksgiving.
How important it is that we thank Him for what he does for us. So whenever people say they want to make deals with God saying, “they will do this if only God will do that,” we have to remember that God already did all of those things for us. All we need to do is thank him. We can’t make deals in regard to Almighty God.
Editor’s note: The passing of our friend and longtime advisor Msgr. Thomas McGread in April 2013 was a tremendous loss to all who came to know him and work with him in developing stewardship as a way of life. But Msgr. McGread’s legacy will continue to live on through our work, through the Msgr. McGread Stewardship Conference in Wichita, Kan., and through this blog. We are fortunate to have in our archives many of his writings and teachings. The Catholic Steward will continue to share these with our followers as we continue to live Msgr. McGread’s vision for stewardship and evangelization in the Church.
