When I think about stewardship, I often think about the family in which I was raised. I am one of eleven children, and growing up in a large family taught me about faith, sacrifice, hard work, and generosity.
My parents decided that Mom would stay home to care for us while Dad started his own business. There were times when finances were tight and they did not know exactly how everything would work out.
But through all of it, my parents had a beautiful trust in God.
My brothers and sisters and I learned quickly that it took all of us doing our part. We learned to work hard, help one another, and understand that our time, abilities, and possessions were not simply for ourselves. They were gifts meant for the good of the whole family.
But there was another lesson my parents taught us that has stayed with me: we had two homes.
We had our family home, where we lived, worked, prayed, and cared for one another. But we also had our spiritual home: our parish and our Church. And just as we had a responsibility to care for our family home, we had a responsibility to care for our spiritual home.
Even when finances were stretched or their time was full, my parents never forgot their obligation to God and the Church. They gave of their time, talent, and treasure because they understood that the Church was not simply another organization. It was our spiritual family.
My siblings and I would never have been able to receive a Catholic education if it were not for the stewardship way of life. It was possible because other families were willing to give what they had so that we could receive something far greater than money alone could provide.
Looking back, I realize my parents were teaching us something profound: stewardship begins in the home.
The generosity, sacrifice, responsibility, and trust learned around the kitchen table become the same habits we bring to our parish.
My parents did not always feel like they had enough. But they gave anyway. And in giving, they received the joy of a loving family, a home rooted in faith, the support of a spiritual family, and the knowledge that God is never outdone in generosity.
That same story can be told by so many families here at St. Francis of Assisi.
This is our home.
Just as we care for our families, we are called to care for our spiritual family here at St. Francis. What makes this parish so beautiful is that so many people understand that. They give generously of their time, talent, and treasure because they recognize that what they have is a gift from God.
We see it in our ministries, our school, our outreach, our volunteers, catechists, adorers, musicians, staff, families, and countless people who quietly serve in ways that may never be seen.
This is what stewardship looks like.
God did not give us gifts simply to hold on to them. He gave them so that we could offer them: our time, our talents, our resources, our lives.
And something beautiful happens when we give them back to God.
The more we offer, the more we receive.
Not necessarily in the way the world measures success, but in something far greater: joy, purpose, community, gratitude, and the knowledge that our lives are helping to build something that will last beyond us.
Our parish is a model of what can happen when a spiritual family embraces the stewardship way of life. There are countless stories here of people who have discovered that when we trust God enough to give, God provides.
As your pastor, I invite each of us to continue growing in this way of life. Let us care for our homes and our families, but let us also remember that we have another home—our spiritual home—and a responsibility to care for it as well.
Let us give generously of our time, talent, and treasure. Let us teach our children that everything we have is a gift. Let us trust God even when we do not know exactly how everything will work out.
And most of all, let us remember the simple truth lived by generations of faithful families:
It is in giving that we receive.
May God bless our families, bless our spiritual family here at St. Francis, and continue to make this parish a place where we joyfully give what God has first given to us.
Father James Schibi, Pastor