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“...conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ.”
To be a follower of Jesus, a disciple, is to live life differently than the world around us. We are called “Christians,” which means we are “other Christs” in the world, so that when men and women see us, they should see Christ radiating through us. Our lives, our actions, our bank accounts, our free time, our movie and tv show viewing, our conversations and online activity should all reflect the God in whose image we have been made, and the very heart of our God is generosity. God is generous, so we in turn must be generous. If we worshipped one of the Greek gods or Hindu gods who in mythology would come to earth only to take and get more and more, then it would be understandable for us to behave in stingy, selfish ways. But we worship God who came into this world to serve, suffer and die. He is the one who pours Himself out ceaselessly in love for each one of us. That means we must imitate God generosity by being ourselves generous, and this cannot happen unless we are intentional about it. Since we live in a selfish world and society, we have to fight the inertia towards egoism and materialism by being prayerful, intentional and generous with our money and our talents.
This week in our bulletin we highlight the many ministries that are available here at St. Dominic Parish. These are some of the ways that we as a parish family seek to meet the spiritual, emotional and material needs of our community, and they would love for you to prayerfully ask the question: where is God inviting me to use my gifts to be intentionally and prayerfully generous to benefit the St. Dominic parish family and our community as a whole? We are also including the commitment card that we want everyone to turn in next week, that in addition to committing to a parish ministry, we ask you to commit to one (or more) of the three ways we have of being intentionally generous with your money. These three options are: to consider attending the Financial Peace University Course to get a better grip on your own personal finances; to consider beginning to give intentionally each month through electronic giving; to plan what percentage of your income you will be giving to St. Dominic Church and other worthy charities in the coming year. Choose any or all of these three options, then bring your Stewardship Commitment Card to Mass with your for our Commitment Sunday next week. May God bless each of us as we seek more and more to emulate and embody His Divine generosity.