The Offering Envelope Division of Our Sunday Visitor has entered into an agreement with O’Meara, Ferguson, Whelan, and Conway to sell and implement selected stewardship products and services to Catholic dioceses and religious institutes. To learn more, click here.
Daniel Conway is President and CEO of Mission Advancement Services for O'Meara, Ferguson, Whelan, and Conway, Inc. Dan has been writing on stewardship themes for twenty years. Dan’s reflections on stewardship are available in several publications. For more information, call toll-free 888-544-8674 or consult the O'Meara Ferguson website.
Copyright © 2009 Daniel Conway. Permission is given to copy and distribute this periodical for use in religious or educational settings provided that proper attribution is given to the author. This publication may not be sold or distributed to the general public without the express permission of the author.
Distributed by:
Our Sunday Visitor serves millions of Catholics worldwide through its publishing, offertory and communication services. Established in 1912 by a local parish priest, Our Sunday Visitor has grown into the nation’s largest supplier of offering envelopes, parish and diocesan mailings, books, periodicals, address management and stewardship services. Our Sunday Visitor is a not-for-profit organization, donating net earnings back to the Catholic community through the OSV Institute.
Finding Hope Through Gratitude and Generosity
Pope Benedict XVI's most recent pilgrimage took him to the cities of Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic. During this trip, the Holy Father returned to one of his most consistent themes: hope in Christ.
In one of his homilies the Holy Father affirmed that "history has demonstrated the absurdities to which man descends when he excludes God from the horizon of his choices and actions, and how hard it is to build a society inspired by the values of goodness, justice and fraternity, because the human being is free and his freedom remains fragile."
"In the modern age both faith and hope... have been relegated to the private and other-worldly sphere," said the Pope, "while in day-to-day public life confidence in scientific and economic progress has been affirmed. We all know that this progress is ambiguous: it opens up possibilities for good as well as evil,” yet it is "not enough to guarantee the moral welfare of society.
"Man needs to be liberated from material oppressions," he added, "but more profoundly, he must be saved from the evils that afflict the spirit. And who can save him if not God, Who is Love and has revealed His face as Almighty and Merciful Father in Jesus Christ? Our firm hope is therefore Christ."
In troubled times, when the economy is uncertain and when the world’s peace and stability are threatened from every side, it’s easy to lose hope -- to give in to the temptation to feel lost and alone. As the Holy Father clearly reminds us, now is the time to look to Jesus Christ, our firm hope in times of adversity.
Where do we find Jesus during these difficult days? How will we recognize him?
Our faith tells us that we will find him in the heart of the struggle, in the eye of the storm, wherever people are hurting or in serious need. We find him wherever healing and forgiveness are needed, and wherever kindness and encouraging words are in short supply.
In other words, we find the Lord in the very places where hope is most threatened. We find him in those circumstances that most desperately cry out for liberation -- from material oppressions and from the evils that afflict the spirit. We find him in the inner city, in rural communities, in suburban neighborhoods and in small towns. We find him in every region of the world where there are individuals, families and communities that need our help and encouragement in these difficult times.
In their 1992 pastoral letter, Stewardship: A Disciple's Response, the bishops of the United States challenged us to let go of the various "isms" that confront us today: individualism, materialism, socialism, hedonism, consumerism and many more. These are social philosophies that become styles of life -- the so-called lifestyles of the rich and famous. Too easily they become obsessions, or as the Holy Father says, "evils that afflict the spirit." Jesus told us that where our treasure is our heart will be also. (Mt. 6:21) He taught us to be responsible stewards, not obsessive consumers, and he showed us that true happiness and peace are the products of gratitude and generosity, not greed and envy.
In his encyclical Spes Salvi ("Saved by Hope") Pope Benedict encourages us to "look to Mary, the greatest witness to hope." We look to Mary because she experienced the confusion and anxiety that we do. She had reason to despair because of the "sword of sorrow" that pierced her heart, but she never gave up hope. Mary was the original Christian steward. She found hope in God's promise that her divine Son would be victorious - in spite of all appearances - over the powers of sin and death. And she held onto that hope in a spirit of gratitude and love no matter what difficulties came her way.
Mary's hope made her the model for Christian hope in every century and the image of the Church in its missionary witness to all peoples and cultures in every time and place throughout human history. We find Christ in the witness of Mary and all the saints, and we find hope in their many, diverse expressions of gratitude and generosity. May Christ our hope challenge and inspire us to be grateful, responsible and generous stewards of all God’s gifts -- material and spiritual. Through the intercession of Mary and all the saints, may we find happiness and peace in these times of uncertainty by opening our hearts to the Gospel of hope and charity.
Copyright © 2009, Daniel Conway
