When all else fails
By Dan Stremel
Director, Offices of Finance and Stewardship
You’ve probably heard someone say that "I’ve picked myself up by my bootstraps" or "No one’s given me a thing, I’ve done it all on my own." Some people I’ve heard make these comments truly do believe that God and others haven’t assisted them, but rather they’ve done everything without anyone else’s help. For others, it is more of a statement of hard work together with an acknowledgment of God’s blessings.
How often have you seen a professional athlete make the Sign of the Cross or some other expression before they shoot a free throw or before batting or after scoring a goal? Is this just a show, or is it a genuine prayer to ask Jesus to be with this person during a time of need? I was recently discussing this topic with some student athletes, some of whom suggested that they always prayed for Jesus’ help before games, while others said that they thought to pray only when things weren’t going quite so well.
Prayer is an important part of the life of a Christian steward, and it is important that we include God in every facet of our lives, in the good times and in the bad times. There are times, though, when I do not make the conscious decision to include Jesus in each of the activities of my day, and it is only when I realize that things are not quite right that I realize that I’ve not included God.
Like the athlete that begins his or her game with a short prayer, it seems appropriate that each of us would begin our day with a brief period of quiet, silently listening and reflecting on how our Lord believes we should go about our daily activities.
The recent scripture day at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe centered on a process of prayer, meditation, and contemplation called Lectio Divina. One of the speakers, Abbot Gregory, a Bendectine Monk, suggested spending 20-30 minutes daily praying in this way. Another speaker who I recently heard speaking about stewardship and the proper inclusion of prayer in our daily lives, suggested spending 10 minutes in silence listening to what our Lord is saying. This same speaker cautioned that instead of listening, we often go to our place of prayer with a set agenda, our ideas about how things should happen, instead of going into prayer with a clean slate and an open mind.
As Christian stewards, we recognize the importance of prayer and communication with our Lord, and also recognize that each of us have been blessed by God with the gifts of our time, talent, and treasure. Therefore, it must be our mission in this lifetime to steward those gifts in a responsible manner according to God’s plan, not our own. The key, though, is to find a way in which each of us can make that connection with our Lord and come to understand His plan. There are endless possibilities about how this can be accomplished, but whichever method or methods we choose, it must be an ongoing and integral part of our lives.
The coming week will be filled with challenges and with decisions that must be made. We can either include God or not include God in these decisions, for we have been blessed with a free will. It is my hope that each of us will choose to begin our days and our activities with prayer, asking for our Lord’s guidance and care, and that at the end of the day, we will give thanks for all that each of us have been blessed with. May God continue to guide each of us as we strive to grow closer in our relationship with God and may we have an open heart to heart the voice of God. Then, we will be able to proudly and accurately say that everything we’ve accomplished we’ve done with the help of Our Lord.