My first pastor as a priest, Fr. Mike Nallen, was a wonderful man filled with a deep sense of Gospel mission and love for the Lord. Although he did not get me on the path to practicing Stewardship, I remember one of his sermons to the congregation at St. Dorothy Church where he spoke about how generous we should be with our Sunday offerings. He simply told everyone, “God will not be outdone in generosity.” His point, of course, was to remind the congregation that whatever we offer will always come back to us in the form of unexpected blessings. Then, to prove his point, he pointed to the offering table where the plate of hosts and wine were waiting to be carried up to the altar later during the Mass. He told the congregation, “we give God bread and wine and God gives us in return the Body and Blood of Jesus, His Son. If God can change such simple offerings into something so powerful and wonderful, how much more will He do when we give our best to the Lord?”
Unlike some other pastors, Father Nallen was not preaching a Gospel of prosperity where preachers claim that our church offerings will ultimately make us rich. No, he was proclaiming a Gospel of blessings, reminding us that God will always turn our generous offerings into something more than we can imagine, something that will truly mean something to us.
I am not going to use this Gospel as a foil to ask you to increase your contributions. However, if you feel called to increase your church offerings, now is as good a time as any! Rather, I want you to reflect upon this Gospel as a call to evangelize. Evangelization cannot be added on to our Catholic life; it cannot be something we do every now and again. Jesus tells the servants to “fill those jars with water” and they fill them to the brim. In the same way, our commitment to evangelizing and sharing our faith must be filled to the brim, complete or not at all. Don’t plan to participate halfway, some time, when you feel you are ready. No, go ALL IN, give yourself to evangelizing others completely, share your faith because the world needs to hear why you believe in Christ.
Don’t be fooled into thinking your faith isn’t strong enough or you don’t know enough, or you can’t explain yourself. The waiters simply drew the water out of the jars and handed it to the head steward. Evangelizing is simply drawing out from ourselves that which we know: God is love. Water is the most common thing we have on earth. And while cool water may be a great gift to someone stuck in the desert, certainly at a wedding, water is the least interesting of all the available refreshments. Your faith may not seem very pious or inspiring to you, but I can assure that there are people around us who love to have that you have. We will never know for sure until we let them taste for themselves the faith which keeps us going day after day.
They will tell us what they think. I know some will not be impressed, but then even Jesus could not convince everyone to believe in Him. Most, will be amazed at our courage, our conviction and our willingness to share something which means a great deal to us. Everybody is happy to share what means nothing to them. Like water, that which is meaningless is easily shared. But only a few will share what is most precious to them. And those who are blessed to receive such an offering are truly grateful for the gift. Go ahead and give your best to God. You will be amazed at how your life will be blessed!
Peace, Fr Nick