Acting in Holy Boldness!

Mark Roberti

Directors of Stewardship Heartland Parishes of Ellis County

Every morning, I wake up early to pray in my home before I go to Mass.  I keep what I call a prayer directory.  It is essentially a compilation of certain prayers, as well as many people and issues for which I pray.   Some prayers I’ve made up, other are traditional prayers that I especially like. If someone asks me to pray for them, for someone else, or for a particular issue, I also include it in my prayer directory for a period of time.  This way I remember to do so.  

A standard prayer that I have logged into this journal is a request for holy boldness. I ask God to give me the courage to speak out when I should speak and to keep my mouth shut when I should.  Sometimes my prayer seems to work, other times not.

But several weeks ago, it struck me.  Stewardship is about holy boldness. It’s including speaking and not speaking, and acting or not acting, with holy boldness.  There is one ingredient, I think I have just recently realized that can turn boldness into holy boldness.  That ingredient is love. If I am being bold in love, it seems to work.  If I’m being bold without love, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. 

As I look back on Mother Teresa, that was her modus operandi.  Not even five feet tall or 100 pounds she was a giant in the world.  The lady was tough.  She simply spoke and lived the truth in love.  She gave and she gave and she gave, yet she wanted nothing in return.  She just wanted to give. And she was the happiest lady I’ve ever seen.  Nothing, nothing, seemed to rock her boat.

Giving of ourselves in love seems to be the key to fulfillment in our lives…whether we want to accept that or not.  Givers are happy.  Takers are unhappy.  It’s a pretty simple formula. Sure, we’ve all seen some takers who are happy for a while and some givers who are unhappy for a while...  but not for long. 

 As stewards we each need to live and act in holy boldness.  We need to stand up for what’s right and stand against what’s wrong.  We need to be invested in our faith, in our parish, and the Catholic Church.  We need to stop waiting for someone else to stand up.  We need to stand up, ourselves, in holy boldness for our Church and our God. And we need to get started right now.  That’s good stewardship.

Your see, our pastors can’t do it all; our parish staffs can’t do it all, and a few dedicated lay leaders can’t do it all.  It takes all of us -- praying, working, and supporting, to accomplish the mission of this Church.   And make no mistake about it, evangelization is the mission of this Church.

Be a good steward.  Live a life of holy boldness.  Pray, work, and support the mission of your parish.  Paraphrasing Pope John Paul II, “If we are what we should be, we will set the world ablaze!”  Let’s stoke the flames of that fire!