Death of a
Steward; Birth of Stewards
By
Director of Stewardship, Heartland Parishes of
I recently attend the wake and funeral of the mother of a man whom I consider one of the finest stewards in the Heartland Parishes. The mother died on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and was buried on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe…a sign for sure.
Many of our faithful, particularly our older faithful, have lived and died as good stewards. I wish we could chronicle each of their lives and tell their stories. Isn’t that really what we are doing when we commemorate the feast days of our saints? We share the stories of their lives so that we and our families can grow in our own faith.
What I find particularly remarkable about this woman is her legacy. She had 11 children, a good number of grandchildren, and a great grandchild. All are still Catholic. In America today, that is one heck of an accomplishment.
At the wake service and funeral, some of the kids told their family’s story. What struck me profoundly was that they had always prayed the Rosary together as a family. As I listened to the family story, what chimed in my mind was the famous Father Peyton’s expression, “A family that prays together, stays together.” This family of faith laid their mother to rest as a united Catholic family. And they prayed the Rosary together, again.
How many of our families pray the Rosary together? How many of our Catholic family pray more than grace, or “Now I lay me down to sleep” together as a family? I wonder if all eleven children pray together, daily, with their children? Or in this fast paced American society, is that one of the things we’ve had to jettison in our lives…family prayer?
How sad! Sometimes it’s not our faults. But I’ve got to wonders how many families that are now divided, prayed daily together, as a family, when they were growing up?
We’ve allowed our world take Christ out of our schools, out of Christmas, and out of the very fabric of our culture. Yet, we, ourselves, are the only ones we can blame for letting our faith out of our very core of who we are…our families. We’re too busy for God. On our death beds, or in our caskets, it’s too late. We can’t have it back.
The other day, I was invited to a little Christmas party of the women’s prayer group at St. Joseph’s. One of those very delightful women, told me of a friend who thinks that stewardship is just about money, and gets somewhat agitated every time the topic is brought up.
I smiled as I though about the woman whose funeral I recently attended. She understood stewardship. She held on to those things that were important, and let go of those things that were not. She died happily, with a family around her that loved her dearly. Her family is her legacy of good stewardship.