Stewardship

Feast of the Ascension

Cycle B

There is always some confusion, and sometimes controversy, around the date that we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension every year. In our province we celebrate it on the Sunday following the Thursday that falls 40 days after Easter. I don’t get too hung up on these things, I’m sure God will work it all out. But this year I think it’s serendipitous that it falls today, on Mother’s Day, because the Ascension is all about stewardship, and what better stewards are there than mothers?

It seems that a mother’s work is never done. There are countless things to do and people to take care of. Moms don’t get sick days. Moms these days are juggling so many things, and yet, they don’t seem to complain very much. At least that’s my experience. I don’t remember my mom ever feeling sorry for herself or wishing that she weren’t a mom. It may have been different for my mom because she had adopted me, and so maybe she was just grateful that she was even able to be a mom at all.

But one thing I think all moms…and dads…have in common is a natural instinct and desire to nurture and protect our children. It’s really amazing that the first time you lay eyes on your child when it is born, you instantly feel the strongest bond to another human being you ever have. You just met this little person, and you feel you would die to protect her. God has instilled in every parent a fierce desire to protect their children, and parents don’t think twice about making every kind of sacrifice for the sake of their children. Not out of some sense of duty but because of love. An intense love that often seems irrational and yet so natural.

We naturally support what we love. Mothers know this love so well.

We Christians see our roles as mothers and fathers as being our vocations, what we are called to do by Christ. We see our stewardship of the gift of our children as a holy task, our main purpose in life. I often tell parents who are preparing to have their children baptized that their main purpose in life is to help get their children, and each other, to heaven. We did not create our children on our own, but with God’s direct intervention, and so we see them as gifts, not possessions. We have been given them by God to do something with, to grow and nurture and prepare, so that they can also live as disciples of Christ.

The love of a mother is the same love we as church are called to show to the world. We call her Mother Church for a reason. Jesus not only told his disciples that he would not leave them orphans, he entrusted the fate of the entire world to them. They were not to keep their faith to themselves, they were to spread the good news to all the earth. Just as a mother sees her children as gifts not possessions, so too must the disciples of Christ treat all of creation. Just as a mother is fierce in the love she shows her children, just as she will make any sacrifice for their benefit, so must we the Church show love and make sacrifices for all humanity.

I have often contemplated the role of the church in my life and in the great plan of creation. I believe that Jesus gave his church a seemingly impossible task – to bring the entire world to salvation. And there are so many facets to that task, physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, that can seem so overwhelming. But it really all comes down to what St. Paul tells us today:

I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the calling
you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the Spirit
through the bond of peace:
one body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.

To me that describes the family. All of us were born into a family, and it is in the family unit that we first experience love. The family is all about unity. The family is all about hope. The family is all about bearing with one another through love. The love of the family unit extends beyond to the Church, and from the Church to the world. We as Christians see all humanity as our family, to be nurtured and grown and loved and protected. We do not see ourselves as isolated but as interconnected. And the same stewardship we have for our families extends to our parishes, our dioceses, our nations, and to the world.

Jesus said to go and make disciples of all the nations, but he didn’t say how to do it. He himself never ventured more than 100 miles from Nazareth. He started with his own family, then built a small community of disciples. It is no coincidence that the first thing Jesus did when he started his earthly ministry was to surround himself with friends. He said his mother and brothers were not just blood kin but those who believed in the good news.

That small community grew into the Church today. And we are all his brothers and sisters because we have heard the good news and have believed.

That is true stewardship. Seeing your family and friends, your parish and your community, your nation and everyone in the world as worthy of your support, your nurturing, and your protection. We understand that stewardship is not something we do, it is who we are. You see, the Father gave us to Jesus to steward. He taught the disciples and prayed for them and healed them and fed them. In the end, He prayed to the Father, “When I was with them I kept them safe and watched over them in your name that you have given me.” He also feeds us spiritually and physically in the Eucharist. And his church continues to teach and pray and heal and feed the entire world.

We are our brother’s keeper. We are called to imitate Jesus in giving of our time, talent, treasure and testimony. The most important thing about stewardship is not what we do but that we do. God give us what we need to steward one another. Paul says today,

But grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift. 

Sometimes we are called to give the gift of our presence, other times of our abilities, still other times of our pocketbooks. And we are always to do so in the knowledge of and desire to spread the good news.

Many of the things a mother does are instinctive and some are mundane, but the most valuable gifts they give us are those given by choice. Mothers choose to be present to us. Mothers choose to go without for our sakes. Mothers choose to love. Mothers choose to give us hope in this life and for the next.

What a wonderful image and model for the Christian life. Take some time today to thank your mother, here or in heaven, for how she has prepared you for life. And take a moment to contemplate how you can best choose to share that same type of stewardship with the world.