Wowed by the honor, bowed by the duty

The third principle of stewardship is that I am wowed by the honor, bowed by the duty.

In Catholic presentations on stewardship, you often hear that it involves being grateful to God for God’s gifts. But maybe we shouldn’t say that. Why?

Because what we receive from God is a gift only in the sense that it wasn’t ours before the giving, and because we’ve no claim in justice on it.

Also because, if it’s truly a gift, then we can do what we like with it. But stewardship requires we give an accounting to God for how we’ve used what God entrusted to us.

Remember, all is on loan from God. And the dominion given to Eve, Adam, and their descendants, translates as care for creation, not doing whatever we like with it.

We are wowed that God entrusts us to care for creation, which reflects Divine Glory, and which was declared by God the Creator as good.

We are bowed by the duty to care for all creation, including to protect the innocent from harm and animals from mistreatment, as well as avoiding wasting resources.

We are also bowed by the duty to ensure the universal destination of goods, sharing with the poor and the Church what we don’t need for ourselves or our dependents.

 

This is part of a teaching document written by Archbishop Michael Jackles titled,
"How to be the Church of the Poor, for the Poor, Stewardship as a Way of Life"
which was published in August of 2021.

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