Who Were You Today?

There are two kinds of people...people who add to the pot and people who simply stir the pot.

A person who adds to the pot is looking to make it better. They look in the pot and they see carrots, celery, peas, and stock and they say, "Well, you know...chicken and noodles would be awfully good in this pot." They see opportunity and goodness in everything.

A person who simply stirs the pot is fearful of what might happen to the pot if it isn't stirred. They look in the pot and they see carrots, celery, peas and chicken stock and they say, "But what if it gets too hot??? What if the carrots get too mushy??? What if starts to burn??? I better stand here and stir it." They see all the things that could go wrong and feel the need to constantly hover over the pot.

Think about your day.

Was the first comment you made to the receptionist or cashier this morning, "Goodmorning! How is your day going?" or "Did you see what the Dow opened at?"

During your morning break or snack did you spend time affirming your co-workers or your children, or did you spend time rehashing the morning news or chore to-do list?

When the phone rang, did you embrace the opportunity to let them hear your smile through the phone or did you think silently, "What now?"

Being a person who adds to the pot does not mean that the woes of the world are not going on around us. It simply means that we strive to bring God's joy and light into the world instead of stirring up the fear and apprehension evil brings to our world.

Being good stewards can often be limited in our minds to material things. Written prayers, service projects, charitable giving are wonderful, concrete examples of Stewardship. However, being a good steward on the Journey with Jesus also means being a messenger of the Good News and bread for others. This means more than material gestures. This means affirming one another, building each other up, sharing joy, and nourishing our often media-abused minds and society-battered souls.

So...ask yourself...are you offering others a warm bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup or that plain old pot of vegetable stock?

Props to our Family Life Committee!!!

Each month of last year, we offered you a description and testimony about a parish standing committee. This year, after being here for just over a year, I want to share with you each month a little bit of my own admiration and gratitude for the work of each of our committees.

November’s featured standing committee (which means it is a committee of our pastoral council) is Family Life. This year’s dynamic group of women and children (and by extension, their husbands) truly have their pulse on the home lives of our community and their importance within our Church. From dressing with dignity to green living, they are always looking at new and unique ways to make God a priority in family life.

I could shout from the rooftops how wonderful it is to see such a passionate and active committee so on fire for faith-filled families. I am invigorated in my own ministry by the energy that comes out of their gatherings and conversations. I encourage you to attend their upcoming pancake breakfast, November 9th, which is a joint-fundraiser for the Young Neighbors in Action trip next summer. Come and see some of their passion, and their families, in action!

If you are interested in becoming a part of this committee, there is no need to wait until our annual Stewardship month! Contact Sheila DeLuca or Amberly Boerschinger at the parish for more information!

Note for Prayer Shawl Ministers

A quick note to our prayer shawl ministers!

The 2008 monthly meetings of this ministry have been scheduled for the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 1:00 p.m. in the parish office.

This is a change from the 1st Tuesday of every month.

Please join us for an hour of fellowship, crafting and prayer!

All are welcome!

A special thank you to all who contribute their beautiful gifts for knitting and crocheting to this life-giving ministry.

The Gift of Experience

How many of us consider our experience a gift? I don't just mean that we learn from experience, but from a stewardship perspective, when we are asked about our gifts, how do we answer?

If asked about my gifts, my immediate reaction is to talk about what I am good at and what I can do. I'm creative, I can think strategically, and I am a spiritual person.

But what about who I am? Like many, it is a different way of thinking for me to consider who I am and my experiences as one of my gifts.

Recently someone identified the experience of being a teen mom as one of her gifts. Wow! Now, she didn't necessarily lift it up as a good life choice, but 10 years later she views the experience as a gift. Viewing it as a gift, she has been able to offer her story and her experience to serve others in that situation. She has been able to give back with the gift of experience God allowed her to have.

What experiences do you have that you could name as gift?

- Have you experienced the birth of a child? The loss of a child?
- Are you happily married? Are you seperated or divorced? Have you lost a spouse?
- Have you gone through a life-changing or life-threatening illness?
- Do you have the experience of having a job? Have you ever lost a job or been unemployed?
- Are you a parent?
- Have you travelled and experienced another culture?
- Have you lived with someone with a disability? Do you have a disability?
- Do you own a home?
- Have you ever had to make a financial or life plan?

These experiences and so many more can and should be viewed as God-given gifts. It is so easy to think that gifts are simply talents or strengths, but they can be so much more. Viewing gifts with this wider lens gives us the opportunity to see God and our faith more clearly in our everyday life.

God, discipleship, and stewardship exist far beyond Sunday morning, but for many of us it is hard to see where they are in our daily lives when we feel distracted by status reports, dirty diapers, and the constant ring of the telephone. It is in finding the gift of these distractions and calling them out as gifts that we truly become a holy, meaning "set apart", people.

Recognizing and sharing these gifts of everyday experience is what makes us as Christians different than others in our society, those who believe they are plagued or controlled by these seemingly lesser experiences and distractions. In recognizing and sharing all our gifts of experience, minor and miraculous, we become joyful witnesses to God's ultimate generosity.

That is everyday stewardship.

What experience were you gifted with recently?

Only You...and God...

“Look for your own. Do not do what someone else could do as well as you. Do not say, do not write what someone else could say, could write as well as you. Care for nothing in yourself by what you feel exists nowhere else and out of yourself create, impatiently or patiently…the most irreplaceable of things.” -- Andre Gide

You are gifted. You are called. What can you uniquely give back to God today?

A Pearl from a Pigeon

Last week my husband adopted a storm-blown pigeon. “Piggie” followed Kevin around as he pressure-stripped the deck, mowed the lawn, and fixed various broken items. Anytime we walked out of our house, Piggie was patiently waiting. At one point, I caught her peering into our living room window taunting our already traumatized cats…

On Thursday, the unmistakable flutter of pigeon wings greeted me as I perched on the edge of the garden box to weed. As she bobbed her head, I fed her a few scraps of bread and told her she was “such a pretty bird”. Shortly after, Kevin and I left on a date and when we returned a storm had blown through and we haven’t seen Piggie since.

In these times of economic and atmospheric strain, the story of Piggie has something to offer. Sometimes we get windblown. Sometimes our concept of “home” is challenged. Sometimes we don’t know how our next need is going to be met. And yet, God sends us people who feed us scraps of bread, who let us perch in their garage, and who remind us that we are beautiful creations of God. Do we remember to say thank you?

Have you thanked God for those people in your life? Has God given you the gifts to be one of those people in someone else’s life?

Light and Life Weekend - Stewardship Month Completed

On April 26th and 27th our parish celebrated our annual Stewardship Commitment Mass. Nearly 300 people returned their annual commitment cards with a renewed dedication to prayer, service and sharing. This year, we asked our parishioners to bring their cards to church to present during Mass. As a visible example to each other, we invited them to walk up to the altar and place their cards in baskets. It was a powerful experience!

Following this commitment, we hosted a free pancake breakfast with all the fixings to celebrate our parish commitment to stewardship! We also distributed evergreen seedlings at the doors of the church after mass as an thank you and encouragement to our members to "Watch Their Stewardship Grow!"

Check out the fabulous pictures from a beautiful weekend! Thank you to all who participate in our Stewardship Way of Life!

Live and Love Weekend - Stewardship Month Continued

On the weekend of April 12th and 13th our parish continued our parish Stewardship Month with 4 families sharing their experiences of stewardship during our weekend masses. We followed this by hosting a ministry expo. All of our committees and ministries were invited to set up informational booths about their projects and stewardship.


Congrats to our Human Concerns Committee for the "Best Booth" award!!! We are so proud!



Check out the great photos below!

Listen and Learn Stewardship Weekend

Last weekend we began our parish Stewardship Month with a "Listen and Learn" weekend. Our Stewardship Team prepared some wonderful displays about the principles of Stewardship and how we can practically live them in our lives.


Check out the photos!

Catholic Stewardship During Recession...

Whether or not the American government has called our current economic environment a recession or not is of little matter. The reality is that many American families are feeling a serious crunch on their day-to-day finances. From mortgages to higher food prices to soaring gas prices some families may already be living penny-to-penny.

Now, I am not a financial expert so I am not going to pretend to offer suggestions on how to best manage your financial affairs in light of the economy.

However, I do want to reflect on one question. What does this mean in the context of Stewardship?

Well, stewardship means the same thing in lean times as it does any other time. We are called, by baptism and by the Eucharist we share, to be good stewards of our many gifts. Regardless of the national economic situation, we are still gifted.

God doesn't change with the economy. This can be of great comfort to us. God is a constant presence and stability in a rapidly changing world. However, this also calls us to a certain response that to many is counter-cultural.

Pennies pinched, we are still called to give of our precious time, our talents, and even our financial resources. We do not do so out of obligation, but out of gratitude. Stewardship "is what we do after we say we believe."

Remember though, stewardship should not be limited to giving money to church or charity. Certainly sacrificial giving is an important biblical principle of stewardship, but we are called to go deeper than that. We are called to be stewards of many gardens including our relationships, our emotions, our bodies, our cities, and our decisions, to name a few.

So when you are looking at the falling markets and you are running on your last gallon of gas remember that stewardship is a way of daily life and not just something you do on Sunday.

Consider the following ideas that are not only budget-friendly, but great ways of practicing stewardship.

• Ask someone to teach you how to change your own oil. Not only will you be drawing on their God-given gifts, but you will be saving yourself car maintainence costs.
• If you have infants in the house, consider taking an extra hour or two to cook down and puree your own baby food. Use an ice cube tray to store and freeze. This is a great way to save money as well as care for your baby's health and the environment.
• Recycling doesn't always mean using the bin. Use cardboard boxes for craft projects and plastic containers for storage. When donating your used items to thrift stores, take time to look for yourself. Do you need a new sweater? It might not have that "new store smell" but a quick wash with your next load of laundry and it will certainly do the trick and keep your pennies pinched.
• Consolidate your errands. This might require a little bit of convenience sacrifice on your part, but it is a great way to save money on gas, conserve fuel for our environment and use your time wisely.
• Consult a faith-based financial planner or system. One great Catholic resource is "7 Steps to Becoming Financially Free" by Phil Lenahan. Invite God to be a part of your financial needs. Remember, all you have was given to you by God, who better to consult?

Need more ideas? Need some help planning for the present or the future? Contact your parish. They are some of the best resources for ideas and they can potentially connect you with someone who has a financial planning background.

Stewardship of Winter

Tired of shoveling? Yes, I think most of us are tired of most things winter. I woke up this week to water flowing into our front room from the ice-dammed eaves. After removing every piece of furniture, relocating the cats, and sopping up the water-logged carpet, I sat down for a sip of cold coffee. As I sat there seething about our 70-year-old house and all of its wonderful “charm”, I looked out the window.

There to greet me was the most beautiful sight of snow blanketed trees and icicle draped homes. As the February sun fell warmly upon my lap, I realized that amidst all of my griping I had forgotten to thank God for this beautiful gift.

If you are like me, and perhaps you saw your kids’ snow day as anything but a “day off” or like my husband, you have retired from snow removal “…even if it means never leaving the house again!” here’s a thought for you. Even snow is a gift from God. A snow day can mean a few stolen moments with our children, our spouse, or even a good book. Snow removal can build our physical health or allow us to reach out to a neighbor. It just depends on how you look at it.

How do you handle the “snow” in your life? With griping or gratitude?