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  AN INCARNATION OF INTENTION Because his coming was so intentional, so resolute, it is virtually impossible to separate the coming of Jesus Christ from his earthly life, his teaching and ministry, his crucifixion, and the resurrection. The prophetic message of Isaiah 61 foretold a coming Messiah: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me: He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” As the prophet wrote, “By his stripes we were healed.” Because he willingly removed himself… Read Complete Article »  In Closing, A Doxology The music is centuries old. So are the words. Inspired by the message of Psalm 117, Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow is a familiar musical selection throughout Christendom and one with a revered place in many versions of the Catholic hymnal. More than a few Catholic liturgists know … Read Complete Article »  The Worker and the Work The most careful reading of the Gospels reveals very little information concerning him, and yet all of that is complimentary. St. Matthew used the word righteous to describe him and referred to him as a descendant of King David. What few recorded events involve him show him to be godly, obedient, devoted … Read Complete Article »  Of People and Paper In the course of the ongoing economic crisis, among the more surreal reports are those involving corporate executives and the matter of projected year-end bonuses. Esteemed, multi-national concerns have ceased to exist, stock market value in the trillions of dollars has simply evaporated, and thousands of people … Read Complete Article » |
DECEMBER 2008 Volume 5, Issue 12 All is a Gift from God. Stewardship Today is a monthly publication for parishioners whose mission is to assist Catholics in understanding and embracing the importance of Stewardship in our daily lives. Stewardship is the acknowledgement that all we are and all we possess are gifts that God has given us for our temporary use and for our use in helping our fellow man. Embracing Stewardship as a way of life starts with the personal need within each of us to return to God a thankful portion of our time in the form of prayer, our talents in the form of ministry to others, and the treasure He has entrusted to our care as gifts to His glory. A Total Stewardship Diocese Copyright © 2008 Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge. Reproduction of this material is prohibited without advance written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.  |
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IN THIS ISSUE: TOP STORY: » An Incarnation of Intention PRAYER: » In Closing, A Doxology MINISTRY: » The Worker and the Work FINANCE: » Of People and Paper MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT: » Ministry Spotlight in the Baton Rouge Diocese The Catholic Community Comes Together BACK TO TOP ^  |
AN INCARNATION OF INTENTION Because his coming was so intentional, so resolute, it is virtually impossible to separate the coming of Jesus Christ from his earthly life, his teaching and ministry, his crucifixion, and the resurrection. The prophetic message of Isaiah 61 foretold a coming Messiah: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me: He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” As the prophet wrote, “By his stripes we were healed.” Because he willingly removed himself from his heavenly throne for a season, Jesus purchased our passage to a heavenly rest. As a spotless Lamb, he took on the burden of sin, removing the stain from the sinful. One free of blemish accepted mankind’s wounds and inequities. In human form, forsaking limitless eternity, he readily assumed the bounds and frame of a baby, a child, a man. In his death, he purchased life. Through his resurrection, he assured life eternal and a heavenly reward. All of it purposeful, all of it sure from the beginning. It could be argued that everyone is in some way touched by the blessing of God. It is just as reasonable to suggest that each person is bound in some way, too. Offering “liberty and release,” the Lord responds to the smothering burden of poverty, the sense of weakness common to the sick, and the crippling brokenness, rejection, guilt and shame felt by all at some point in their lives. Each of these burdens drives fellow travelers off course. Christ has brought good news to the lowly, healing to the infirmed and soothing care to the brokenhearted. To those rendered spiritually, physically or emotionally immobile by circumstance, their own missteps or the inconsiderate actions of others, he offers the ultimate good news—the spiritual liberty common to the Kingdom of God. In his riveting book The Wounded Healer , the late Catholic priest, educator and devotional thinker Henri Nouwen wrote of the great need for meaningful ministry in our present day—the need to extend Christ’s love to others. “Compassion is born when we discover in the center of our own existence not only that God is God and man is man, but also that our neighbor is really our fellow man. Through compassion it is possible to recognize that the craving for love that men feel resides also in our hearts, that the cruelty that the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses.” And, “if anything has become clear in our day, it is that (spiritual) leadership is a shared vocation which develops by working closely together in community.” Those who have read much of Henri Nouwen’s work are aware that he died while ministering in a community where individual struggle and debilitating burden were the norm. To those in need of a divine touch, Fr. Nouwen was Christ’s comfort and counsel. One of the great gifts of Christmas is found in this realization: Just as the Messiah came to “bring glad tidings, to heal and to proclaim liberty,” he extended his call of ministry to those who would follow him. He has extended that call to us. The baby born in Bethlehem came to this life with clear intent. We honor his coming when we go forth with an appreciable measure of the same. Send Stewardship Today to a Friend |
“It is easier to accept the message of the stars than the message of the desert.”
~ Edwin Way Teale ~ |
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IN THIS ISSUE: TOP STORY: » An Incarnation of Intention PRAYER: » In Closing, A Doxology MINISTRY: » The Worker and the Work FINANCE: » Of People and Paper MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT: » Ministry Spotlight in the Baton Rouge Diocese The Catholic Community Comes Together BACK TO TOP ^ |
IN CLOSING, A DOXOLOGY The music is centuries old. So are the words. Inspired by the message of Psalm 117, Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow is a familiar musical selection throughout Christendom and one with a revered place in many versions of the Catholic hymnal. More than a few Catholic liturgists know the hymn as the Doxology, a word often translated to mean “an offering of praise.” As played or sung during Mass, such a proclamation of praise is an appropriate call to worship and a lyrical statement of faith. The devotional benedictions of parish priests echo similar assurances of blessing. The Apostle Paul’s concluding words in his letter to the Romans serve as something of a closing, devotional doxology, a doctrinal statement of deep and meaningful spiritual truth. “Now to him who can strengthen you, according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and forever. Amen.” Most farewells—especially those among friends—are fairly simple. We say, “So long,” “See you soon,” “God bless you,” “Take it easy,” or “Tell everyone I said hello.” We will make a point of touching base with many friends and members of our families during the holidays, so we’ll offer dozens of similar farewell statements to friends and family in the coming weeks. It would serve as a confirmation of our faith—even a statement of our belief in the blessing of the coming Christ child—to say something more profound than “Take it easy.” Following the Apostle’s lead, “to him who can strengthen you” could become the inspiration for a simple statement of faith: “Stay strong. Be encouraged. Remember that God cares for you.” We say ‘so long’ to another eventful year. During the last twelve months, we have known times of ease and of distress, of challenge and of encouragement—situations both good and difficult that direct us to trust in our loving, merciful, and ever-present God. As you bid farewell to 2008, we join in asking for God’s gracious presence and his generous blessing in your life. Merry Christmas and the best of holiday celebrations to you and those you love. And, before you close the door on your visits with them, invite God’s blessing in their lives as well. Send Stewardship Today to a Friend “Blessed is He who dwelt in the womb, and wrought within it a perfect Temple so that He might dwell in it.”
~ St. Ephraem the Syrian ~ |
 Prayers of the Saints: St. John of the Cross (1541 - 1591) Born Juan de Yepes at Fontiveros in 1541, near Avila in Spain, St. John of the Cross attended the Jesuit College at Medina, and was ordained a Carmelite priest in his mid-twenties in the very year he met St. Teresa of Avila. As a reformer, he was several times kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured, actions that no doubt contributed to his remarkable influence as a writer of insightful, devotional prose. He was a noted educator, but it is as the author of such celebrated studies as the Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul that he is most remembered. St. Teresa had written, “God alone is enough,” and her confessor added the following: “Remember the Creator, forget the creation, study the life within, and reach love’s summation,” his sum of perfection. A simple prayer of peace illustrates the saint’s devotion and life experience as a servant of God: “O blessed Jesus, give me stillness of soul in You. Let Your mighty calmness reign in me. Rule me, O King of Gentleness, King of Peace.” “God created man in his own image, and philosophers do just the opposite—they create God in theirs. (There is only one God. Many of us are philosophers.)”
~ George Lichtenberg ~ |
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IN THIS ISSUE: TOP STORY: » An Incarnation of Intention PRAYER: » In Closing, A Doxology MINISTRY: » The Worker and the Work FINANCE: » Of People and Paper MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT: » Ministry Spotlight in the Baton Rouge Diocese The Catholic Community Comes Together BACK TO TOP ^ |
THE WORKER AND THE WORK The most careful reading of the Gospels reveals very little information concerning him, and yet all of that is complimentary. St. Matthew used the word righteous to describe him and referred to him as a descendant of King David. What few recorded events involve him show him to be godly, obedient, devoted to his family and protective of his wife and infant son. Religiously devout, as St. Luke documented, the man and his family traveled to Jerusalem for the annual Passover feast, introducing his son to the festival custom. When one year he and his wife realized the all-wise offspring had remained behind, he was diligent in searching for him and found the lad listening to and asking questions of the temple instructors. The son became known to fellow locals by identifying him with his father’s trade. To them he was the carpenter’s son; his father, the carpenter. The son was Jesus of Nazareth, and his earthly father was named Joseph, the increase of God. The biblical story of the birth of Jesus is enriched by the presence of tremendously wonderful personalities. The Virgin Mary, her relative Elizabeth and her kin. Messengers of the divine, ministering angels, and the heavenly host. Others fill critical roles, identified as much by their calling as by their character: an innkeeper, wise men and shepherds. It is of some significance that the earthly paternal parent of the Most High was similarly known by his craft: the carpenter. A feast in his honor was instituted some fifty years ago, just as significantly entitled the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. The Scriptures and the Church honor the worker, and thus we celebrate the grace of work itself. Teachers, office workers, sales and marketing representatives, homemakers, physicians and nurses, cleaning crew members, artists, and thousands of other trades, professions, callings and crafts—each member of the Church in every parish is likely known as much by vocational title as by affiliation to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. Within such a conventional reality is an extraordinary truth. As was true for the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the value of vocation is most consequentially measured, not by worldly success, but by the degree to which each worker expresses personal devotion to Christ in the process of doing his or her work. The Church, the workers of God. Send Stewardship Today to a Friend “The Child, the Lord Jesus Christ—Word in our flesh, Wisdom in infancy, Power in weakness, and in true Man, the Lord of Majesty.”
~ St. Pope Leo the Great ~ |
 See and Tell The King of Glory was born in a humble manger, void of the typical trappings of royal birth but not without notice. In truth, those present formed a humble group of witnesses. Obviously, they included the unassuming couple, the Virgin Mary and Joseph. Authors of a host of Christmas carols remind us that lowly creatures, the animals stabled near the manger, kept watch. And, of course, the shepherds to whom the angels had extended a personal invitation took in the scene firsthand. “The shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child.” Awakened by heavenly messengers to the incredible news, the shepherds obediently made their way to the stable to see the child. Greeted by the sights, the sounds, and the smells of lodging more suitable for animals like their own, they carried with them the echo of an angelic chorus. In ultimate appearance, it may have been a fairly modest arrival, but it was one announced by the heavenly host, a proclamation of the everlasting consequences of Christ’s coming. And then, immediately afterward, the herders shared the news with others. “They made known the message.” May we follow their example. Let’s join the shepherds, approaching the Savior. Let us go see. Then let’s tell others. |
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IN THIS ISSUE: TOP STORY: » An Incarnation of Intention PRAYER: » In Closing, A Doxology MINISTRY: » The Worker and the Work FINANCE: » Of People and Paper MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT: » Ministry Spotlight in the Baton Rouge Diocese The Catholic Community Comes Together BACK TO TOP ^ |
OF PEOPLE AND PAPER In the course of the ongoing economic crisis, among the more surreal reports are those involving corporate executives and the matter of projected year-end bonuses. Esteemed, multi-national concerns have ceased to exist, stock market value in the trillions of dollars has simply evaporated, and thousands of people are facing everything from foreclosure to bankruptcy, and yet decision makers at the top of the economic food chain debate whether or not generous bonuses are appropriate. When you open your last paycheck of the year, will it contain a bonus? Will your employer reward your hard work, your many contributions, and your faithful service with additional pay for a job well done? Many have come to expect it and budget accordingly. A bonus can help cover year-end expenses, the cost—even the choice—of Christmas presents, travel to see family, or unexpected seasonal needs. Particularly if a company has done well during the year, employees share the benefit—a financial boost to everyone concerned. This uncertain season may well offer a notable exception. Across the nation, miles of rusting perimeter fence encircle acres of abandoned parking, each vacant employee space a symbol of the individuals and families whose personal vehicles were manufactured there once upon a former time. Many of our fellow parishioners in this and other dioceses face great financial uncertainty this holiday, and their concerns arrest attention far below the level of debates over Christmas bonuses. Perhaps a simple envelope with employer letterhead—one that held last year’s bonus—contains this year’s separation notice. It is sobering. And these issues are rarely shaped by numbers on a piece of paper or columns of figures filling up a computer screen. They’re shaped by the people they affect. Anything of such weighty importance is always more about the people involved. The collapsing value of special funds obviously matters, not merely as a representation of financial loss, but because those funds may well have been targeted for education, for housing, or as seed money to establish a small business—not for the sake of simple experience or blessing, but because those aims were intended to bless real people, the ultimate reward of sufficient planning and jobs well done. The prophet Isaiah revealed the nature of the reward God extended to his Son, Jesus Christ, for his sacrificial obedience. “The Lord proclaims to the ends of the earth: Say to daughter Zion, your Savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord.” The eternal reward—the bonus—received for his purposeful Incarnation is a group of people, the members of his Church. Whether or not this year holds the promise of a bonus, or you’re among those simply grateful to be employed entering a new year, please know that you serve as the bonus for another’s work and service. You are the Lord’s reward. Send Stewardship Today to a Friend “How many observe Christ’s birthday; how few, his precepts. Oh, ‘tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.”
~ Benjamin Franklin ~ |
 Please Lay Off Euphemisms A short Fortune magazine article entitled “Bosses Ban the Word Layoff” recently bemoaned our tendency to soften the blow of bad news through the use of euphemism. As a positive spin on negative information, one major company announced a layoff by stating staff cuts were designed to help the firm “to become more fit.” Another company called sizeable job losses a “reengineering program.” Yet another referred to job cuts as “simplification.” Euphemistic terms for mass layoffs are commonplace: “reductions in employment,” “downsizing,” “readjustments,” and “elimination of non-essential personnel.” What might it feel like to learn your company thinks it is more fit without you? What if you were declared non-essential? One expert was quoted to say “executives do this as a way to emotionally distance themselves. When you’re doing something bad to someone else, vague language makes it sound less bad than it really is.” Plain talk is preferable, and the writers of the Scriptures—no matter how often they employed poetic imagery and metaphor—specialized in straightforward communication. Writing to the church in Thessalonica, St. Paul used the direct approach. “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.” Rejoice and pray. All the time. Give thanks. All the time. Be wise and diligent; test everything. And readily recognize the difference between good and evil. Keep the good. Avoid the evil. That’s plain talk, something we could always use more of and altogether typical of much of Scripture. No matter how poetic the Law, the Gospels and the writings of St. Paul, God loves us too much to hide behind euphemism, and an adequate understanding of our present uncertainties may be hidden in part by our reluctance to address difficult situations head on. “There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can.”
~ Mark Twain ~ |
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IN THIS ISSUE: TOP STORY: » An Incarnation of Intention PRAYER: » In Closing, A Doxology MINISTRY: » The Worker and the Work FINANCE: » Of People and Paper MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT: » Ministry Spotlight in the Baton Rouge Diocese The Catholic Community Comes Together BACK TO TOP ^ |
MONTHLY SPOTLIGHT: THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER Last month, we encouraged readers to consider the many opportunities for service and ministry available through the coordinated effort known as the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge Together for Christmas Campaign. In this issue we extend another invitation for those not yet committed to a particular ministry of service this holiday season to consider taking part in such a worthy venture. Again, please visit the CCDBR website to download a donor form, view pictures of last year’s campaign, or take time to read last season’s Community Comes Together newsletter. Additional information, and contact with program coordinators, is available through the following web address: www.ccdiobr.org. Simply click on the option “2008 Christmas.” In addition to specific service opportunities, because of the significant devotion of diocesan priests, musicians, liturgical directors and school staff, the Season of Advent provides dozens of opportunities for meaningful worship. Throughout the area, concerts and special services of all kinds are the seasonal norm. Please gather with other parishioners in this special time of celebration and praise, and honor the birth of our Savior with your own presence, generosity and devotion. BACK TO TOP ^ |
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