"And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.
Dear Friends of St. Therese,
2020 proved to be a challenging year for everyone. The chaos and uncertainty presented by the COVID 19 Pandemic is not the only challenge we are experiencing. Just about everyone has faced a crisis of one kind or another in their life. The only thing that stays the same in this life is that we all go through crises. Sometimes a crisis can bring about change…in us and in our circumstances. Change is not easy to adapt to, but something we all must remember; people change; however, God never does.
New Directions
The challenges faced during this pandemic have required that St. Therese Catholic Church make some changes as well. The initial closing of the parish was a difficult but necessary decision. Apparently, it was time…a time for a new beginning.
A new direction had to be plotted and actions taken to continue our mission to Love God, Follow Jesus, and Serve All. We are blessed that we have stewards who shared their Time, Talent, and Treasure to be able to quickly initiate on-line services, followed by the resumption of limited in-person Mass celebrations, weddings, baptisms and funerals. Many parishes remain closed, so we are very thankful for these gifts.
Time for Introspection
Have we paused, during this chaotic time, and turned to God? As we begin the New Year, have we pondered the change brought about in our individual circumstances? More importantly have we thought about the impact on our fellow parishioners, neighbors, and the less fortunate? Is this God’s way of forcing us to think of OTHERS and SHARE our good fortune and gifts received from Him? If so, how can we change for the better?
New Opportunities
We can all embrace our new beginnings and grow our faith by giving freely of the gifts provided to each of us. These gifts can be defined as our own unique gifts of Time, Talent, and Treasure. We believe that this new Stewardship Challenge should be focused on reminding us to put God First in everything we do. We do this by following His call for all to become Disciples of Jesus Christ.
The concept of stewardship as a way of life should not always be focused on our temporal or temporary needs such as facilities and debt reduction. It recognizes the innate spiritual desire to give. This desire lies within all our hearts. Our loving God created us in His image with the potential and expectation to share our gifts with the world around us. It means putting our complete trust in God, in all things, by sharing all our God-given gifts, especially that one “gift” that means the most to us — maybe it’s our time, our talent OR our financial resources.
As the hands and feet of Jesus, we are a community called to help develop and strengthen each other’s faith, our relationship with God and each other. We have been given different gifts and have been called to utilize them in our own unique way. God’s plan will only work, if WE DO WHAT GOD IS CALLING EACH ONE OF US TO DO.
In the coming months, St. Therese will offer various opportunities to learn more about the importance of stewardship and living our lives putting God First. These efforts are ongoing and will extend throughout the year. Please refer to the weekly bulletin, St. Therese web page, Facebook page and newsletter for more information.
Some of the questions we will explore are:
Take a moment to think about what St. Therese Catholic Church means to you. Will you challenge yourself to put “God First” as a way of life and give generously of your Time, Talent, and Treasure?
St. Therese Catholic Church Stewardship Committee
Click here to be directed to the Stewardship Committe webpage
God is the reason for my existence – He is the center of my life. He wants me to love my neighbor and so I have to go beyond my prayer life and just the attending of Sunday Mass... He wants me to love my neighbor and to share, with him/her, in a 'graceful' manner, the abundant gifts He has given me, by attending to their needs, through the giving of my time, my talents and of the treasure, He has blessed me with. – MC
All that I am, all that I have been through, all that I will do… As I walk through this life, I know in my heart that I am His servant. When God is first in my heart, never do I walk alone. – MA
God First to me is Gratitude not just for what he has given me, but for all creation. God is what we see, God is what we feel, and God is what we cherish. I say prayers of Gratitude every day for all. Having gratitude is having Happiness. – AP
When I think of God First, I think of the two greatest commandments found in Mk 12:30 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
We love God by having a relationship with Him in prayer (thy will be done) and in adoration (The Mass). Learning more about Him through the Word spoken during the Liturgy of the Word and following Him by living out his word – ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ God is asking us to be his hands and feet here on earth to spread his kingdom by loving our neighbor.
He has loved us into being and in turn He is asking us to love others. We owe everything to God! Everything we have, God has given us and He entrusted us to take care of it as He would. And, in gratitude we give back to God what He has given us… we don’t bury it, we multiply it…so in the end He will tell us, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’ - GB
God First to me is to see Him in all things and all people. His guiding hand creates our very existence and shapes our everyday experiences. We must strive to do better, be better, in giving all that we have so that we may grow closer in knowing Him. While it’s effort and expense to put God first in our lives, He wants nothing more for us than to do just that. Because of his abundant love for us and gifts he’s bestowed to us, we should want to serve Him in whatever ways - big and small - that we can. – AZ
Quite simply, “He must increase; I must decrease.” John 3:30 – KB
God First simply states that God is the reason for everything. Everything we see, everything we touch, everything we smell, everything we hear, and everything we are was given to us from God. We have been entrusted with these gifts to appreciate and graciously share with those whom we share this planet. - JH