What Is a "Stewardship" Calendar Anyway?

What Is a "Stewardship" Calendar Anyway? A year ago the wall calendars we gave out, with help from local sponsors, were focused on our Holy Father, Pope Francis. That theme meant that they included joyful, touching, and funny pictures of a Pope who has surprised and attracted many, and helped us to look at our faith and the Church from a different perspective. That calendar also included inspirational sayings, the feasts and solemnities of the church year, and which saints are honored on various days of the year. Even if we don't use wall calendars to plan our schedule, these can be attractive wall hangings that offer little spiritual "nuggets" to inform and inspire our faith and spiritual life.

Building on last year's theme, the new wall calendar for 2017 called "Stewardship, a Way of Life" is one of several ways we can unpack some of the practical implications of Pope Francis' writings. For example, his teaching in The Joy of the Gospel about rededicating our efforts to grow as disciples will be made more tangible in our forthcoming Local Pastoral Plan (theme of last week's column). In a similar way, the pope's writing in Care for Our Common Home calls us to grow as good stewards - caretakers of God's gifts - and this calendar will be one of the tools we use. The Bible and our Catholic faith teach us to be good stewards not only of the Earth ("our common home") but of all the gifts we have received from God.

That is why this year's wall calendar - in addition to the Catholic schedule of saints, feasts and solemnities - features beautiful pictures both of religious symbols and of God's creation. The inspirational sayings can help us to connect our Catholic faith with practical ways we can be good stewards of our God-given gifts such as our time, our treasure, and our talents/abilities. For example, do we spend some of our time reading spiritual books, religious articles, or short daily reflections? How do we use the things of value in our lives for the good of others as well as ourselves? Are there ways I use my abilities to "give back" to God by sharing them with others? Each of us can have different ways we live Christian stewardship in our lives (as we will discuss during the course of the year), but we are all called to bring our faith and gratitude to God into the practicalities of our lives so that our words in prayer and our actions in the world are consistent with each other.

This idea of Christian stewardship may sound very broad and vague at this point, especially if it is not something you have heard much about before, but don't let it seem overwhelming. You may already be living as a good steward even if you don't think of it in those terms! In addition to future homilies and bulletin/website postings about stewardship, each of us rereading the sayings and Scripture verses on this Catholic calendar will help us gradually absorb the practical implications of our faith in God who blesses us abundantly and in so many ways!