Spiritual Reflection Guide Take a Step
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:34) Place God First in All Things This means making God s priorities our priorities. When we place our loving Creator at the center of our life, we become more prayerful, more focused on loving and caring for our families and our neighbor in need and less preoccupied with material things. In short, we find the true source of happiness and fulfillment that we all seek and that the Lord alone can provide. It s been said that People make the time and find the money for what they value most. We must challenge each other, as disciples of Jesus Christ, to value God above all else. This belief will lead us to put our faith in action by finding the time and money to promote God s priorities because we have made them our priorities as well. The starting point for Sacrificial Giving is the basic principle of Christian stewardship that everything we have is a gift from God. In gratitude for God s generosity, we dedicate a portion of these gifts our time, talent and money to furthering God s Kingdom. If we truly believe that God gives us all that we have, gratitude is one response. Trust is another. When we realize that God has provided for us and will continue to do so, we recognize that our real security lies in God. Our God, who has given us all, will take care of our future.
How Will You Respond? Every year you will have the opportunity to reflect on and re-evaluate your giving in light of your commitment to your faith. As you decide on the percentage of your income to give, you will be asked to consider giving onehalf of that amount to our parish and one-half to other charities. You will be receiving the Take a Step Planning Guide/Commitment Card to help you determine the percentage of your income you wish to commit to Sacrificial Giving for this next year. Please fill out and tear off the commitment card attached to it and return it to the parish. This enables our parish leaders to plan a budget for the year. Please use the Sunday envelope each week as the way in which you offer your gift to our Parish. Sacrificial giving is a necessary expression of our faith, of what we say we believe. We channel a portion of our giving through our parish because it is the body which most clearly bears witness to the meaning and values we find at the center of our lives.
Sacrificial Giving is PLANNED The decision to give is just that a decision. It requires thought and time, so it s integrated with other financial decisions as part of a careful, intentional response to God s generosity. The degree of planning that goes into our sacrificial giving reflects the importance of our commitment to give. For most of us, unless we plan something, it doesn t happen. Unless we consciously incorporate the amount of our giving into our regular budget, it becomes an optional expense and may be lost in the financial shuffle. Planning our giving enables us to give of the first fruits rather than some amount left over after more important obligations have been satisfied. The planning process itself can be a spiritual exercise, focusing our attention on our values and priorities. Planning can also become an occasion for dialogue among family members about the commitment to give. This dialogue may foster a sense of ownership about the decision to give; in the absence of planning, giving can become a source of tension in the family. Many find it helpful to set-up an automatic weekly deduction from their checking account as a way to fulfill their decision and commitment to the regular Sunday offertory collection.
Sacrificial Giving is PROPORTIONATE Our giving is proportionate to what God has given us. Most people use the biblical concept of the tithe, a tenth, as a guide. In any case, the gift is a proportion of our resources. How much should you give? Start with an assessment of your level of giving now. Many of us are dismayed to discover how little that is. It is certainly a proportion of your resources but is it a proportion which adequately reflects your gratitude for God s generosity? There is no magic number that represents the right amount. Although most people use the biblical tithe as a guideline, the proportion you choose should be sacrificial and truly commensurate to what God has given you. In many instances, it is a goal we have to work toward, recognizing that it takes time to re-orient our priorities. We can begin today by taking a step toward the biblical tithe. There is no right answer, either, to the calculation of income upon which the proportion is figured. It s easy to get caught up in playing games with net vs. gross income or looking for loopholes, which will exempt that unexpected windfall. Your Sacrificial Giving pledge isn t your tax return. It is your return to God of a proportion of the gifts God has given you, which you choose to share with your parish and other charities. Your decision about your level of giving will be one which makes sense and truly reflects your gratefulness to God for the gifts you have received.
Sacrificial Giving is SACRIFICIAL The proportion of our gift becomes sacrificial when it comes from our substance rather than our abundance. When we give out of our substance, we are changed in the process. Perhaps the most important outcome of Sacrificial Giving is the impact it has on the giver. If you can give your gift and not notice it, it isn t a sacrificial gift. The element of sacrifice is present when something about your life has to change in order for you to be able to give the gift. You re-order your priorities and reconsider your values. Every time you give the gift, you are reminded of the reasons why you have chosen to give. Sacrificial Giving is one way we have of walking in the footsteps of our Lord, who sacrificed everything so that we might have life. We give up something of ourselves so that life can flourish. When we give that way, we are changed. When giving becomes Sacrificial Giving, it focuses our attention on the true source of our security. When we give away something we think we need to survive, we are saying, money won t take care of us, possessions won t save us. Sacrificial Giving bears witness to the reality that God alone will make us safe. Recognizing that reality and living it out constitute a tremendous change in our lives. And this can make an equally tremendous difference to the lives of others. The sacrifice we make by doing without some portion of our substance is just that doing without so that life for others may flourish.
Sacrificial Giving is A PRAYER of THANKSGIVING Our gifts are most appropriately presented at the Offertory of the Mass. The celebration of Christ s sacrifice is a fitting context for our own sacrificial offering which is a grateful response to the unfathomable love God has shown for us. Too often, we want to separate the issue of giving, particularly the giving of money, from those more spiritual aspects of our faith life. The separation between faith and life is one of the more serious errors of our age. * Yet, the commitment to Sacrificial Giving is one of the most important expressions of what our faith means to us. Offering our gifts at Mass places them in an appropriate context of prayer and response to God. In the offering, we can express our joy in having received and in being able to give. We are able to say, Thanks be to God! We can give back some portion of the tremendous gifts that have been given to us, the most important of which we celebrate at the Eucharist. There is no better time to fulfill our commitment to Sacrificial Giving than in the atmosphere of prayer and thanksgiving. We remember, too, that this commitment is one of personal as well as communal prayer and part of a lifelong process of turning toward God. Just as our giving forms an integral part of the ritualized expression of our faith the Mass so is it woven into struggles and joys we experience on our personal faith journey. *From Vatican II, Guadium et Spes (no. 43) and the U.S. Bishops Pastoral Letter, Stewardship: A Disciple s Response
Sacrificial Giving is A GIFT No gift is truly a gift unless it is given freely, without reservation or condition. The gifts of God are given to us in just such an unconditional manner and we are called to model our giving after God s. Sacrificial Giving doesn t buy anything. It doesn t buy happiness or love or a tenfold return on our investment. The motive for giving a sacrificial gift is not the expectation of getting something back. We are able to give what we give because God has already given to us. Sacrificial Giving is really a response, then, to the generosity of God. We acknowledge that we are not the starting point for the giving, but we are simply passing on a portion of what we have received. The way in which we give our gift is as important as the gift itself. A sacrificial gift has no strings. It is given freely as God has given to us, because the motive for the giving is a grateful response rather than an expected return. This does not mean that the parish or the charities to which we give are not to be accountable for the gifts given. It does mean that our decision to give is not contingent upon the particular use of the gift.
Sacrificial Giving of Time & Talent Sacrificial Giving flows out of an understanding that everything we are and have is a gift from God. When we give a portion of our time, talent and money, we are expressing our commitment to this reality. Our baptism reminds us of our new life in Christ. We are called to be a witness to this new life 24 hours a day in our home, neighborhood and job. By giving a portion of our time, talent and money and by making it visible to ourselves and to others, we continually remind ourselves of this reality. When we consider our participation in Sacrificial Giving, we need to include our time and talent as well as our money. Just as in giving money, giving time and talent expresses our gratitude to the God who has given us these gifts. Our gifts of money do not substitute for gifts of time and talent. Neither do time and talent substitute for giving of financial resources. All our gifts are from God. As you make your decision about the portion of income you will give this year to your parish, the poor and other charities, consider as well what you will give of your time and talent. Consider the guideline of committing five hours per week to parish or other church ministries and activities, community work or other kinds of social service. We can give more or less than this time and talent guide depending on our situation.
Loving the Way God Loves Giving the Way God Gives. From the beginning of time, our Creator has given humankind the gifts of life and unconditional love. One day our God saw fit to give the first fruits of love for us, the sacrificial gift of an only son, Jesus. Jesus gave his own life for us on the cross. He set an example for us of giving unconditionally and of sacrificing so that others might live. We walk in the footsteps of Christ when we give sacrificially a part of our substance so that others might live. The Scriptures tell us that those who follow the example of Jesus will be the first fruits of the redemption. (James 1:18 and Revelation 14:4)
Sacrifice, surrender, and suffering are not a popular topic nowadays. Our culture makes us believe that we can have it all that with the right technology all pain and problems can be overcome. This is not my attitude toward sacrifice. I know that it is impossible to relieve the world s suffering unless God s people are willing to surrender to God, to make sacrifices, and to suffer along with the poor. From the beginning of time, the human heart has felt the need to offer God a sacrifice. ~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Canonized a Saint in 2016)