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Text Box: One of my favorite saints is St. Francis de Sales who was the Bishop of Geneva, Switzerland from 1602-1622. His most famous spiritual work is the Introduction to the Devout Life. In this work he tells us that we are all called to holiness according to our vocation in life. No one is exempt from this call to become holy. The father or mother of a family becomes holy by fulfilling their role as good parents. A priest becomes holy by doing what a good priest does; a religious sister becomes holy by faithfully living out her vows in a grace filled way of life. In other words, God gives us each a vocation that is unique in order to bring us to holiness. We grow in holiness by living out our vocation and not despite our vocation. The Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls this notion the “Universal Call to Holiness.” We are all called to become holy-no exceptions, no exemptions. The way to holiness is found in imitating Our Lord Jesus Christ who came that we might have life and have it in abundance. (John 10:10) Again in the Gospel of St. John, we read: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God, in His superabundant love generously gave us life and even His own Son to redeem us from our sins and though this shows us the truth that He cannot be outdone in generosity. It is this trait of generosity which best reflects His love for us. He calls us to live out that generosity in our lives by being good stewards of the gifts that He has given us. These gifts that we have received from Him can and do take so many different forms; however, we usually group them into three categories: Time, Talent and Treasure. The

Text Box: stewardship of time allows us to acknowledge that each and every second of our lives is precious and unrepeatable. Time that is spent can never be regained; we can never turn back the clock. This means that we must use well the time that we have been given. Stewardship of time allows us to prioritize our lives around what truly matters-our relationship with God and one another. No one will ever say at the end of life, “I wish I had spent more time at the office rather than with my kids.” Through our stewardship of talent we are able to use the gifts that God has given to each one of us for the building up of the body of Christ which is the Church. One of the best definitions that I have heard for this is that “talent is the passion that people have for doing what is good.” Our talent is not necessarily only a particular skill or ability, but it is also much broader. Stewardship of talent is our desire to give of ourselves in proportion to what God has given us. It can be sharing musical talent, for instance, but it can also be a sharing of one’s passion for pro-life activities or Eucharistic Adoration. The stewardship of treasure is the last in the series but is by no means an afterthought. The stewardship of treasure is also not just about paying the bills of the parish. Stewardship of treasure involves much more that making sure we pay Alabama Power to keep the lights on and the air conditioner running. I say this because the temptation is to reduce our stewardship of treasure to just bill paying and avoid talking about money for fear of making everything “all about the money.”

Text Box: The reality is Jesus knows how personal an issue money is for people. Consider His parables about material wealth: the lost coin, the widow’s mite, the buried treasure in the field, the Good Samaritan who gave two silver pieces to the innkeeper, etc. Jesus speaks a lot about money because He knows how personal it is to us. Sometimes it can even keep us from a deep relationship with God. For example remember the rich young man who came to the Lord to ask what he must do to gain everlasting life. The man told Jesus that he had kept all of the commandments from his youth, and Jesus told him that in order to be perfect he should go and sell all he had and give to the poor then follow Jesus. The Gospel tell us that the young man went away sad because he had many possessions. How sad it is that the young man could not see beyond material wealth to the call that he was given by Jesus. Perhaps he would have been a wonderful Apostle, but we will never know. The example of the widow’s mite shows us that we must give from the heart; the size of the gift is not the issue, rather it is the love with which it is given. We give in proportion as we love. The stewardship of treasure is not about giving to a need; rather it is about our need to give, a need to make sure that material possessions do not dominate our lives. During the month of October we will be focusing on our stewardship campaign and inviting you to help us build up the Body of Christ here at St. Ignatius Parish through your generosity of time, talent and treasure. I ask that you prayerfully consider what you can do to give of yourself for the benefit of all.

September 2007

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Text Box: Parish Picnic October 14th Bring a friend! Enjoy a day of fun and fellowship at the Fall Parish Picnic October 14th following the 10:00 AM Mass ‘til 1:00 PM. Food and drink will be provided along with lots of activities, inflatables, games and prizes for the kids. Don’t miss the fun! Interested in volunteering, contact Erin Cooper at 476-9202 or EOC1111@aol.com