Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday’s second reading takes up the question of the relationship between our faith and our actions.  Here the powerful passage from James is inseparable from genuine love for Christ.  “What good is it if you say you have faith but have not works?  Can your faith save you?  If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and no food for the day, and you say to them, ‘Good-bye and good luck, keep warm and well-fed,’ but do not meet their bodily needs, what good is that?  So it is with the faith that does nothing in practice; it is thoroughly lifeless.”

As individuals, each of us has been blessed with a unique blend of abilities and talents.  God gives us the talents to do many good things.  Your talents are wonderful and precious.  Talents do not wear out by sharing them with others.  In fact, they usually are enhanced.  When we share our time and talents to do God’s work in the parish, we also enrich ourselves by making new friends, learning new skills and experiencing joy and satisfaction.  By giving of our talents we can support our parish efforts to carry out the mission Christ gave to each of us.

I’d ask you to please pick up your Stewardship of Talent card.  I’m asking you to prayerfully reflect on your giving of talent to the parish.  We are a stewardship parish, and your commitment to time, talent and treasure is what marks you as a stewardship member of Christ Our Hope Parish.

Please place your Stewardship card in the basket when you bring your gift of treasure.  God is counting on us.  As St. Teresa of Avila reminds us, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours.  No hands, no feet but yours.  Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.  Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.  Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body.  Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”