strictest stewardship
"After a long absence, the master of those servants came home and settled accounts with them." —Matthew 25:19
The Lord expects us to be good managers of the lives, time, talents, opportunities, finances, possessions, and resources He has given us. Paradoxically, the Lord is both a very lenient and very strict Master. To those with limited opportunities, the Lord is extremely merciful. For instance, the Lord took the good thief to be with Him in paradise although he had done little good with his life until his act of faith shortly before his death (Lk 23:43).
Conversely, from those who have been given much the Lord expects much (Lk 12:48). Catholic Christians who have been baptized into Christ, love the Church (see Eph 5:25), can know God's word authoritatively, and receive the body and blood of Jesus will be judged by the strictest account. Pope John Paul II has taught: "Those who are incorporated in the Catholic Church ought to sense their privilege and for that very reason their greater obligation of bearing witness to the faith and to the Christian life as a service to their brothers and sisters and as a fitting response to God. They should be ever mindful that 'they owe their distinguished status not to their own merits but to Christ's special grace; and if they fail to respond to this grace in thought, word and deed, not only will they not be saved, they will be judged more severely' " (Mission of the Redeemer, 11; Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 14).
All Christians, especially Catholics, be good and faithful stewards, for you will be judged accordingly.
Prayer: Father, may I hear You say to me: "Well done! You are a good and faithful servant" (Mt 25:21, our transl.).
Promise: "He singled out the weak of this world to shame the strong. He chose the world's lowborn and despised, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who were something." —1 Cor 1:27-28
Praise: Ever trying to be a good steward of time and energy, Linda, a homeschooling mom of eight, would offer her and her children's services to help clean and maintain a retreat center.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, February 7, 2002
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, February 12, 2002