CATECHISM – 33rd Sunday of Year A

Stewardship is not well-known as a word in the Catholic lexicon. There is something faintly Protestant about it, don’t you think?

When I was a younger priest, involved in campus ministry, I had a good friend, the Reverend Doctor Hugh Chapman Crouch, who was both a professor at the college where I also taught and the pastor of a local Baptist church. I was close to this minister and to the lay leaders of his church. They taught me a great deal. One of the things I learned was about stewardship, the responsibility to use well the gifts that God has given us. The way they funded their ministries in this church was to appeal to their members’ sense of stewardship. The Finance Committee would work out the budget for the coming year and put it to a vote of the church membership at the annual meeting. When the budget had been approved, the Finance Committee divided it up among the church members according to a formula based on the estimated income of each member; something like the tax rate in a municipality. Then, two members of the committee went to call on each church member by appointment. They said, “We understand you have an annual income of $50,000. Your share of thebudget this year will be $2,500. Will you please sign this pledge card?” These pledges were to be paid in an annual, quarterly, or monthly check mailed to the church treasurer. The Sunday donations in the offertory collection were extra (!) and to be used only for external purposes: mission funding, etc.

Of course, church membership was entirely voluntary and renewed every year by a solemn commitment made at the annual meeting. The members knew that by accepting to be members, they were accepting to support the ministries and the expenses of the church. Each had a rather well- developed sense of responsibility for the Gospel and for the works of the church. (The church is only the local congregation in Baptist vocabulary.)

Catholics are only just beginning to understand stewardship. Most Catholic immigrants to America years ago came from countries where the Church was to a great measure supported by government grants. It was hard for them to learn that here their parish and their diocese only had the funds that they themselves contributed. They learned the lesson well. Look at the church buildings, rectories, schools, hospitals, orphanages, etc. which they built from their meager earnings!

Today, the Catholic people need to rediscover the generosity of their ancestors here in America. Each person in the pew needs to be aware of how God asks each individual to be personally responsible for the support of the parish and of the diocese, and of the Universal Church.

While we might not realize it, we live in the end times. Ever since Christ ascended to his Father, Christians have waited anxiously for the return of their Lord in glory. For the past 2000 years, the Church has recognized the current moment as a time of favor, yet a time of judgment.

As we discussed last week, the risen Christ is fully present to us, his followers, yet we struggle against evil as they journey to meet the Lord. Sometimes, we might fall to our own self-delusions of holiness, sometimes to the lure of worldly temptation, sometimes to wiles of the Evil One. Ultimately, we will undergo a final trial, a choice between “. . . apparent solution to (our) problems . . . ” and the truth. (CCC 675) A pseudo-messianic persona or force the Church calls the “Anti-Christ” will led the battle against us. This persona or force can include cults of personality or ideologies. In the end, the “Anti-Christ” (has and) will challenge God’s People. Only God can deliver his faithful from the final test. We cannot save ourselves.

“The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil . . . ” (CCC 677)

How have you waited upon the Lord, in spite of the challenges you face? Has your waiting been active? Explain.