the ultimate challenge to stewardship
"After a long absence, the master of those servants came home and settled accounts with them." —Matthew 25:19
In a few weeks, we will be celebrating the year 2000, the Great Jubilee. For several years, many of us have been preparing for this greatest of all Jubilee Years (Towards the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II, 16). The coming year, the two-thousandth anniversary of Jesus' Incarnation and birth, may well be one of the greatest years in the history of the human race.
The Jubilee Year is a year of great freedom for the whole society. It is the sabbatical year of the sabbatical years in which we rest, forgive all debts, free all slaves, and restore the land to its original owners (Lv 25:6ff). Only those who are good and faithful stewards of God's property (see Mt 25:21) will be willing to comply with God's demands for the Jubilee Year.
During the next year, the Lord will probably demand the greatest accounting of stewardship in your life. Will you be faithful, or unjust and selfish? Will you put others' interests ahead of your own? (Phil 2:4) Will capitalism be put under the lordship of Jesus, or will it operate independently? Will you take the role of consumer, or let yourself be consumed by the Lord? (see Heb 12:29) Are you ready for the greatest year of justice, freedom, and love? Repent; pray; renew your total commitment to the Lord.
Prayer: Father, may personal and international finances be pleasing to You.
Promise: "We belong neither to darkness nor to night; therefore let us not be asleep like the rest, but awake and sober!" —1 Thes 5:5-6
Praise: Praise You Jesus, risen Redeemer and Lord! You are enthroned in power, exalted in majesty, and glorified in splendor. I worship You forever!
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Ralph J. Lawrence, April 10, 1999
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 16, 1999