Wow – time and celebrations

I recently stopped to think about all of the people who I have enjoyed the pleasure of working with both here at the Chancery office and in the parishes throughout the diocese over these past 16 years. There are so many people whom I have had contact with, more than 50 that I could remember alone having worked with here at the diocese, and countless priests, seminarians, principals, teachers, secretaries, custodians, and parish council members. We have discussed budgets, property insurance, health insurance, asbestos, grants, risk management, policies, procedures, and building projects. Much has changed since I came to work for Bishop Schlarman and with Father Wylie as an accountant some 16 years ago. My role has changed dramatically over this time, and I find myself now being in ministry rather than being an accountant. I know that all of these people and these experiences have helped me develop into the person that I am today, not just an accountant, but hopefully, also a grateful steward of the many gifts God has blessed me with.

Father Ted Skalsky at graduation spoke to the eighth graders about being grateful for the many blessings they had received and suggested that they were the best advertisement for the school, for this Catholic education that each of the graduates had received. I think in reality that Father Ted could have been speaking to each of us, that we should also be grateful for many things, and that we too can be the best advertisers of our Catholic faith toward others.

Graduations and anniversaries are a good time to reflect on the past and to enjoy the accomplishments and the good and bad times we have experienced along the way. They are a celebration of some goal that has been achieved. These are the moments to be savored, to be enjoyed. Congratulations to you, Jenna, and to all of your classmates, as well as all of the other graduates. Celebrate your accomplishments and look forward to what lies ahead.

The path that we choose to take as Christian stewards can be likened to these recent graduates. We, too, can look back on what has happened over the past several years in our Christian development and can use those experiences as stepping stones toward a closer relationship with God. Graduations are an end as well as a beginning, ending a school experience to pursue more education or the working world, and I would challenge each of us today to be like these graduates. We can celebrate our accomplishments and look forward to what lies ahead.

Living our lives as Christian stewards -- imitating Jesus in our daily lives -- also evolves over time. Many of the people I have come to know over these years have grown dramatically in their understanding of stewardship and how our God has called us to use those precious gifts He has entrusted to our care. However, it has not been because of a formal course of education to learn stewardship. I believe we are all learning to be better stewards each day in the daily encounters of our lives, in the people and events that surround us, but we often choose not to listen.

As we move into these summer months, we too can celebrate. We can celebrate the many gifts our God has blessed each of us with and be grateful in thanking our God for these blessings. We can also prepare to move ahead, and to choose to get as much as possible out of this stewardship classroom called life. Our teacher is Jesus and we can learn much if we will listen, by spending time each day in prayer asking our God to guide us. Then, many years later we will also say, "Wow, where has all the time gone?" when we realize how we have grown as Christian stewards.