The Spirit of Stewardship – Week Four
Stewardship is really about Justice!
By Fr. Dan McKean

Last week we began talking about each of the gifts of Stewardship. We began with the gift of time, because of my belief that it is the most precious gift that God gives to us. This week we talk about the gift of treasures – the just use of the material gifts that God gives to us.

"Christians Prosper," has been one of the modern day errors that have been preached from Crystal Cathedrals and many other pulpits. This false doctrine has turned some churches into little more than an investment club. It’s like playing the stock market. The bible does say that we would be rewarded 10 fold for our giving, but I doubt that this is what Jesus meant. Take a few minutes to read the Acts of the Apostles and you will realize just how much Christian living calls us to sacrifice and sharing.

There has also been the Christian practice of tithing. This Old Testament idea falls far short of the spirit of stewardship. We are led to believe that we have two piles of good – those that belong to God (10%), and the rest that we can do anything we want with. Stewardship is not about strict tithing. It is about sacrifice and sharing; how do we use all of these gifts that belong to God? Do we use these gifts Justly; acknowledging who God is, why we have been created and loving the least of God’s people as we would love God, or ourselves.

I am certainly that all of us remember the great encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, written in 1891. What? You say you never heard of it? Well how about Pope Pius XI’s 1931 encyclical, Quadragesimo anno, Which marked the 40th anniversary of Rerum Novarum. Still doesn’t ring a bell? What about if I use their English titles? The first was, On the Conditions of the Working Classes; the second, On the Reconstruction of the Social Order. Our ignorance of these great social teachings of our church shows us just how far we have strayed from a Church that calls us to create a world of justice and dignity for all peoples. It also helps us to realize that stewardship is about living the justice of God.

The passage of history, and the fact that the present times are relatively good to us, has allowed us to forget the horrible conditions that working class people one toiled in. The presence of assistance programs has led us to believe that the problems of the poor are the problem of the government. Giving to charity becomes a choice that we make when we feel like it, and from those treasures that are left over, or what we would call our "superfluous income."

In 1981, Pope Leo XIII declared, "When the demands of necessity and propriety have been sufficiently met, it is a duty to give to the poor out of that with remains. A duty is not charity, but an action required by the Justice of God. Pope Pius XI was even more direct about the Just use of our material gifts. "Furthermore, a person’s superfluous income, that is income which they do not need to sustain life fittingly and with dignity, is not left wholly to their own free determination. Rather the sacred scriptures and the Fathers of the Church constantly declare in the most explicit language that the rich are bound by a great precept to practice almsgiving, beneficence, and munificence."

Beneficence and munificence are not words that we use much these days, but make an important point. Beneficence is the simple act of performing acts of kindness and charity. Munificence takes us a step further by reminding us of our duty to be very liberal in giving and bestowing our gifts with the spirit of generosity.

Stewardship sets our priorities and guides us to joyful and munificent givers. We are urged to build our treasures in heaven through the use of the treasures of earth.