A Letter From Our Pastor: What Are You Going to Do With Your Life?

My dear sisters and brothers,

What a great question that I was asked to write on. Yet this is a question that we often don’t have enough time to really think about. Our daily lives get busy with many activities — some essential, some important, and some quite frivolous. So here are some thoughts that might be helpful for our reflection.

We are called to be the disciples of Jesus Christ. Discipleship is our calling and stewardship is the way we are to live the life we have been given, being faithful stewards of the gifts that God has given to us. This life of discipleship, of stewardship, begins with our Baptism and our new life as members of the Church, the People of God. We may not always remember that we have been called to discipleship, to a life of stewardship — yet, that is who we are. Understanding and living this call is a lifelong process. We are all “works in progress,” God’s “work” that evolves moment by moment, day by day, and year after year.

To get more specific, we need to not only understand that stewardship is the expression of discipleship, but it is also the way in which we are to live our life. It is not a program — it is a way of life. I suspect that there have been moments in our lives when we have been asked, “What are you going to do with your life?” That might happen at graduation, yet how many of us have followed the path we thought we would at that time in our life? Perhaps we replied with a certain profession that may have interested us at the time. Yet often, there is more to our answer than the title of a profession, just as there is more to our lives than just breathing.

How do we use the gifts God has given to us? How we do so will define the life we live for God and the Church. That is our call to discipleship. It is also how we should understand stewardship.

Many people ask me why I am so convinced that stewardship is a way of life. The simple answer I give is always an easy one and the most practical. My life as a faithful steward makes sense — especially when I realized that everything was a gift and that I am blessed. The story of Christianity is filled with people like you and me who wonder and desire how to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is what we are to do with our lives. Our attitude must be formed to spend the time and the talents we have, to do our part for God’s Church. When does that become our priority? When does it become our way of life? These are the questions any believer must ask themselves when we think about our relationship with God, His Church, and the people around us. My understanding of stewardship as a “way of life,” the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ grew the more I practiced it. The more I shared my time, my talent, and my financial resources, the more it made sense. The more it fulfilled me. The more others benefited. The more I shared, the more I received through the grace of God. I am so grateful for what God has given me and thankful that I can live my life as his disciple, as a baptized member of His family. I am thankful my parents brought me to be baptized and begin a life that would lead me, like all of us, to be the disciple we are called to be.

When we were baptized, no one asked us, “What are you going to do with your life?” Yet, our parents and godparents understood why we were all there. They most likely would not have articulated it as becoming a disciple and living a life of stewardship, and yet they knew it was the beginning of a way of life of following Jesus Christ.

What am I going to do with the rest of my life? I long to pour it out completely as a disciple of Jesus Christ and as a faithful steward of all the gifts that God has freely given to me because of God’s unconditional love. What about you, what will you do with the rest of your life?

In Christ, I love you.

Fr. Jim

Fr. Jim