Unto you a Child is born
By Dan Stremel
Director, Offices of Finance and Stewardship
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and it is my hope that each of you and your families is blessed abundantly during this Holy season. The sharing of the season affords us an opportunity to reflect joyfully on the many blessings that God has bestowed on each of us and challenges all of us to reinforce our call to Christian discipleship. The possibilities for living out this call are endless if we just stop a few minutes to reflect on our communities, our work place, our parishes, and our families and friends. Each of you who continue to live out stewardship as a way of life are to be commended, and I want to thank each of you for your ongoing efforts to make a difference as stewards.
The gifts each of us bring to those around us, much in the same way as the three kings brought gifts to the baby Jesus, are unique and significant. One of the keys to these gifts is recognizing what they are and understanding how they are significant. Discernment is one of the ways in which we come to recognize and to understand our gifts, and I was able to participate in the Called and Gifted process a few years back to contemplate various charisms. Through this process, I centered on the charism of writing, and for the past three and a half years have shared that charism through the authorship of a stewardship column. My thoughts have always been random, based on the events and happenings of the day, but I’ve felt that they’ve always been inspired by the Holy Spirit, who in some way has led me to a particular topic or view.
However, as Christian stewards, I believe it is also important to continue to listen intently to the Spirit and to continue to change, to evolve. Living as stewards on a daily basis, we are able to make progress in one area, which then leads to growth in another area. Our gifts and charisms, I believe, don’t change but rather take on different levels of priority at various times throughout this journey.
My role in ministry is to cooperatively guide with many others the efforts of the stewardship process throughout the diocese, and while my role won’t change, I feel it is time to tweak how these efforts are carried out. Unfortunately, time and energy doesn’t allow for everything to be given equal consideration, and I am sad to say that I feel the time has come to take a hiatus from writing the column to concentrate my efforts on other priorities.
The silver lining for some will be the absence of this column, a Christmas present of sorts. The silver lining for me, though, is the fact that if each of us as Christian stewards is aware, the stories of stewardship and our call to discipleship and the wonderful examples of living out this call, are all around us. The lack of a few words by me in each column are more than made up for by others, gifted in word and in inspiration, who are able to capture the spirit of the giftedness of people around them and are able to share them with others. I will continue to listen to these stories and hope you will too.
May God continue to bless each of you as stewards, joyfully and triumphantly carrying out His message to others, and may each of you be blessed so as to understand and discern God’s gifts in your life. I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and blessings for the New Year.