33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners,
This past weekend, I preached on Stewardship. Last weekend’s readings were very appropriate for my homily. We read in the first lesson from the Book of Kings about how a widow who takes the prophet Elijah into her home. He is looking for a safe place to live. There was a drought in the land that was caused by the idolatry of King Ahab. The drought led to famine.
Naturally, the widow is reluctant to allow Elijah into her home. She was running out of food for her and her son. She had given up and is prepared to die. Elijah assures her that if she shares her flour and oil with him there will plenty to eat and the food will last for a year. His prediction comes true. The widow’s meager supplies last throughout Elijah’s time as her guest.
The moral of the story seems to be that if we share our resources with others, no matter how meager our resources may be, in the end, we will have enough. All this is a leap of faith.
I know that I forget that lesson at times in my life. I wonder if I have enough resources and I have far more than the widow did. When I have made a sacrificial gift, it has brought more blessings than difficulties.
This is our annual Offertory Commitment Weekend. We reflect on the donations we want to make in our collections throughout the year. You should have received a letter in the mail this week. In it is a commitment card. This is a unique card because the pledge you make is just between you and God. The letter explained the process of reflection.
As you know, we are presently involved in a Capital Campaign. Offertory Commitment Sunday is a gentle reminder that we still have ongoing bills at Sacred Heart. If we can have a robust offertory we will be a lot better off. The Capital Campaign funds are not for our regular bills. The offertory collection is for our ongoing expenses.
If all of us share our resources with the parish community and we do that after prayer and reflection we will be like Elijah and the widow. We will have the funds necessary to continue the Gospel mission of Sacred Heart Parish. Thank you for your generosity.
Blessings,
Fr. Mark
P.S. Please remember to bring back your Offertory Commitment card in the weeks to come. Just drop them in the regular collection. This will give us a sense of how many people are participating. Again, there is no personal information on the card.