Stewardship: It’s Not About You

     “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these” (Jn 14:12). These words from today’s Gospel were Jesus’ call to action to his apostles before he left them for the last time.  They remain his call to action to all of us as his disciples today. It’s a daunting call.

     Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s choice of the papal name Francis was the first sign that he wanted to make a radical change in our focus. St. Francis was known for his care of the poor as well as his simple living and shunning of possessions. This lifestyle and focus were in stark contrast to the hypocrisies, opulence and elitism of the Catholic Church of St. Francis’ time. Similarly, we see Pope Francis also shunning hypocrisy, opulence and elitism in our modern Church and in the world at large. St. Francis made an impact because he actually patterned his life after the life and teachings of Jesus. Pope Francis also consistently reminds us that our work, the work of our Church, is to pattern ourselves after Jesus. Yet, we still continue to struggle with that call to action. We still struggle as Christians to act like Christ because our individualism (promotion of our own self-interests) often trumps our philanthropy (our love of humankind).

     Christian Stewardship’s premise is an acknowledgment that all that we have is not ours, but is God’s. Christian Stewardship denies the legitimacy of individualism. As managers of God’s gifts, we are in charge of using these gifts in furtherance of God’s will. We know what God’s will is because he sent his son down to show us. Jesus said “follow me”, not “worship me”. Fr. Richard Rohr says that we sometimes cleverly seek to avoid the hard work of actually imitating Jesus by focusing on the worship of him.

     As we prepare ourselves for the week ahead, let’s take up the challenge anew. Let’s use our God-given strengths and gifts to reach out to the less fortunate, the disenfranchised, and the marginalized. Let’s answer Jesus’ call to “do the works I do…and do greater ones than these.”

     In Silicon Valley, we are surrounded by opulence and elitism. It is easy to fall prey to individualism. At Catholic Community at Stanford, our members are some of the most talented, most intelligent and most entrepreneurial individuals in the world. In our midst, we have today and tomorrow’s leaders. How can we harness those gifts and talents for the greater good of our community, our disciplines and our world? How will we as Catholic leaders “do greater ones than these”?