1. Believe in "Whose" You Are
As Christian stewards, we belong to God, the Creator and Owner of all things created. We enter this world owning nothing and we leave it in the same way. It has been said that you'll never see a hearse pulling a U-haul truck. Yet, our consumer culture drives us to acquire and protect - to hold on tight to all we can in this world. To enjoy the freedom that God intends for us, we need to recognize that all we have - every breath, every moment, and every possession we have been able to acquire is ultimately a pure gift of God. Even more importantly is accepting that God loves us, forgives our failures and asks us to walk in the way of Christ, his disciples, Mary and the saints who have followed in this footsteps. This way is one of radical self-giving out of love for God and love for others, especially those less fortunate. It all begins in knowing whose we are and growing in that understanding and relationship each day.
2. Believe You Are Blessed
How much are you worth? You are priceless in the sight of the Lord. How much are your loved ones worth to you? Would you take a million dollars in exchange for your child or another family member? In considering how much we value the people in our lives, we find our greatest wealth. What price would you put on your freedom, your safety or your health? These too are great blessings that we often don't count. We tend to become blind-sighted by what we do not have and what we think we want so much so that we miss the chance to find the contentment waiting right in our midst. Reminding ourselves daily of how blessed we are, we can give so much more freely to those who have less. The Gospels challenge us to give in proportion to what we have been given. The widow's mite was worth more than all the rest because of the sacrifice - the cost to her - and the love with which she gave. Whatever the level of your material blessings, you can be a great giver in God's eyes.
3. Believe in the Big Why
The old Baltimore catechism began with the question - Why did God make you? Most in their fifties and older will be able to recite easily that God made us to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world and the next. How we answer this question defines our own life. As Catholics, we find our personal mission in and through the Church. Jesus proclaimed that his mission was to bring Good News to the poor. We don't need to look far to find our own poverty, poverty within our friends and family, and poverty in the world around us. For some, this is material poverty but for all of us there is spiritual pverty - a hunger to know God, to love God and to serve God more and more. In the Greek Scriptural text, the word used for self-giving and for love is the same. Our world will become what it was meant to be when we learned to love each other both inand through the Church by our way of self-giving. When that happens, all that we believe about the building of God's Kingdom here on earth will be possible.
