Empowerment not Entitlement - October 2, 2022

"Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Luke 17:10)
 
Jesus said this in the last line of our Sunday gospel. What a way to start a stewardship column! So, if it seems kind of harsh, consider this: Jesus specifically said this to the Apostles. Which makes more sense because the temptation for those in leadership positions is to think more highly of themselves than they should and feel entitled. Instead, the Apostles, Jesus said, are servants simply doing what the Lord has commanded. The Lord also doesn’t make profit on them, because God owns everything and can do everything and really doesn’t even need them. However, even though God doesn’t need anything, He really blesses us by empowering us to work for Him, that we can truly participate in His redemptive work. It is an honor to be a servant of God!
 
I think that is a good way to think about stewardship. It is an honor not a burden. God could if He wanted do everything for us, and we then could just sit back and enjoy the show. Think of an analogy as parents—you can do all your children’s homework, all their chores, and let them lay around and grow up feeling entitled. But, far better that God wants to lift us up and give us responsibility and duties so that we are co-workers with God. We are not entitled but empowered.
 
On that note, as your pastor, I want to thank you for all that you do to serve God here at Prince of Peace and in the world. Your gifts of time, talent, and treasure are the empowerment God has given you, and they empower our parish to do great things! If you look at the financial report also in this bulletin, we did better than being “unprofitable servants”, we actually made a profit—we came out financially with more income than expenses. This is great, following some leaner COVID years, and it gives us confidence that we can do more here at POP to do more ministry and more fixing up. Thank you for all your financial gifts! There is so much more we can do here, and I’m excited for the future.
 
And stewardship is far more than simply financial giving, it is about our time and talent, our service. More than ever, it seems that time is the most precious resource, and in so many ways we need more volunteers to continue and even grow the service we do here at POP. Thank you to all who give their time here. I know God always gives more in return, so more power to you!
 
Prince of Peace, the name of our parish, is a title of Jesus. We are not the ones with the title, we are not little princes and princesses of peace. No entitlement here! But we are empowered by our Prince and Lord, to be agents and servants of His Peace. And our parish, our families, our ministries, our world desperately needs this Peace! Thank you fellow servants, and don’t forget to pray and think about your stewardship—we are mailing out the annual renewal. This is an opportunity to re-commit ourselves to the Prince and King of all, Jesus Christ! May God bless you!
 
Peace,
Fr. Greg
 
P. S. On another note, Prince of Peace is officially “twinned” with Christ the King and Blessed Sacrament Parishes in Kansas City, Kansas! This is something all the parishes of the Archdiocese are doing because we were given this goal and following explanation: ”In order to grow as companions in faith, all parishes within the Archdiocese will have entered into an intentional partnership with at least one other parish to engage in projects of mercy and support in order to better encounter Christ in one another.” We have twinned, but we haven’t done much with it. So in order to raise more awareness and spur on some activity, we are doing a pastor swap with our twin parishes. I, Fr. Greg, will head to CTK and Blessed Sacrament for the weekend of Oct. 15/16, and Fr. Nick Blaha will come to POP to be at all our Masses that weekend. Please welcome Fr. Blaha, and pray for our twin parishes, and begin to think about what we can do to serve with them.