Stewardship means respecting and sharing our resources as an expression of gratitude to God. It reminds us that we are the administrators, not the owners, of our assets. Christian stewardship can be identified by several meaningful characteristics, the most important is that it strengthens our relationship with God. It is a way of life, not a program that has a beginning and an end. Stewardship calls us to share a portion of our time, talent, and treasure so that the Good News of Jesus Christ may be shared with those who do not know Him.
Stewardship of Time, Talent & Treasure-
Many times in scripture we are reminded to be generous with our time, talent and treasure. We are called to take care of others, to share what we have, to return a portion of our gifts to God. We are reminded to do this with purity of intention and according to our means.
Guided by prayer, each Catholic makes a decision to live out the Christian life as a good steward. This decision is an intentional act intended to thank God for all of His blessings by returning to Him a portion of the time, the talent, and the treasure He has given us.
Once a year, each Catholic household should plan how the stewardship of time and talent will be a part of its lifestyle and how the stewardship of treasure will be a part of its budget. This plan is then lived throughout the year in a regular, consistent manner.
The stewardship plan includes a commitment to donate a set percentage of one's time, talent, and income to the Church and other charities.
All we possess is a gift from God. Everything we have is freely given for our own good. This is basic to our faith and is often repeated throughout Scripture. Just as basic and repeated is another truth: we should return a portion of those gifts (our time, talent and treasure) to God in gratitude for the abundant generosity we have received.
Stewardship of time involves the realization that no individual "owns" time. Each of us is given only so much of it - planning a schedule that has time to work, rest, play, and pray is vital to our physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual beings. In our busy society, time is one of the most precious possessions we have. How we spend our time is perhaps the clearest indication of our progress in a life of Christian discipleship.
Each of us possess many talents. Stewardship of talent calls us to search out those talents, nurture them, and share them with others. Jesus' first and greatest commandment is "To love our God with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind." We do that by using our God-given talents for the benefit of others. Doing that brings us to His second greatest commandment, "To love our neighbor, as we love ourselves." Stewardship of talent shows us the way to a spiritual life, a oneness with God through reaching out to others.
Our money and possessions (our treasure) are gifts from God that we are asked to care for and generously share. It is important to share our money and material possessions for two reasons: first, because all the good things that God made (including money) are meant to be shared; and second, because each of us has a need to give. We need to give our money to individuals and families in need, to the Church, and to other worthwhile charitable organizations because giving money is good for the soul and because we need to return thanks to a loving God for our many blessings.
We often hear the Biblical reference that tithing consists of 10% of our income. Certainly that is the ultimate goal and a wonderful one. Realistically, most of us start below that and keep trying to increase our giving little by little. All are encouraged to give proportionately to our income and our blessings, and to move up to (and beyond) 10%. The most important point is to SET A GOAL and WORK TOWARD IT.
Suggested stewardship formula for 10% of treasure:
Five percent may seem like a large allocation to your local church. Remember, your parish is the nonprofit community that helps you carry out Christ's mission. A portion of the money collected at our church is given again, as we are a tithing parish, donating to many charitable causes. Our church provides space, accommodation and support for worshiping, receiving sacraments, evangelizing, learning, ministering and gathering in community. This all requires payment of the same kind of expenses that a home or business has - mortgage, insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc. It requires paying for the expertise of those who teach, minister and run the day-to-day operations.