In our everyday lives, this scene is being played out day after day. There is always someone in need, there is always someone who just goes on by, and there is someone who stops and assists with the need at hand. Now, granted, the scene may not be a man lying by the road who has been beaten and robbed, but it might be the man who doesn’t have a job and needs to feed his family. It might be the elderly lady who needs assistance getting to the doctor or who just needs a friendly face to visit her and ask how she is doing. It just might be one of your family or friends who needs your help, but who is having a hard time asking someone else to help.

Sharing our gifts, time, talents, and treasure, can be in response to a need that has been brought to our attention and to which we have been asked and have chosen to respond. It can also be acting before being asked, the one who recognizes a need and has enlisted others through invitation to assist with the need. In either case, the response is the result of our understanding of God’s great love for us and that Jesus gave each of us the ultimate gift by dying on the cross for us. We realize that God has blessed each of us with individual gifts, and that sharing these gifts is one of the ways in which we can thank God for this overwhelming generosity.

Stewardship is not necessarily always easy. We may fail, on occasion, to be the best stewards that we can be and might pass up an opportunity to assist someone in need, preferring to mind our own business. However, stewardship is always rewarding and it is only through prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we will have the strength to be the best stewards we can every day. It is through dialogue with God that we come to understand what He wants us to be doing, not just what we want God to be doing for us.

On August 28, the diocese will host the second Diocesan Stewardship Conference at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe. More information about the conference can be found on Page 3. I would like to invite everyone to attend this conference as it promises to be worth your while, that is, if you are truly committed to living your life as a Christian steward. The conference presenters and speakers are people just like all of us. They too, are people who have struggled to understand and to fully grasp the significance of this call. However, all of the presenters have chosen to share their stories, their ideas, their philosophies in the hope that this will be the little nudge needed for others to move forward on their own stewardship journey.

The story of the Good Samaritan ends at the inn, and we don’t know what happens to the characters. What do you suppose would have happened to each of these people if Jesus continued on with the lesson? Do you think that the man, once healed, was grateful for the blessings he had received and went forth sharing with others? Do you think that the Good Samaritan continued his good works, or that this was a one-time event?

As we continue along on this stewardship journey, I pray that each of us will be open to the voice of God, gently guiding us forward to Him, and that we will be like the Good Samaritan each day of our lives. It is my hope that many of you will be able to attend the diocesan stewardship conference and that the day will bring each of us closer to God, and to what God is calling each of us, as Christian stewards, to do as His present day Good Samaritan.