Reflection on Stewardship - 3 November 2021

     In our reflections in our stewardship book for the first week, it talks about several people of faith whose feast days we celebrated recently.  St Hedwig was a member of the royal family in Silesia in present-day Poland in the 13th century.  She and her husband were very generous in supporting orphanages, hospitals, monasteries, and the Knights Templar, a Catholic military order that defended Christianity from its enemies in the medieval period.  When her husband died, she entered a monastery, where she lived as a laywoman, donating her riches to the Church.  She is remembered for her great generosity and compassion.  St John de LaLande was a French layman who accompanied the Jesuit missionaries to the settlements in French Canada in the 17th century.  Accompanying Father Isaac Jogues, he knew of the great risks he was taking.   LaLande, along with Isaac Jogues, were martyred for the faith.  They are included in the North American martyrs whose feast day was commemorated in October.  John de LaLande is remembered for his great love of bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had not heard this Good News before.  

     As we just celebrated All Saints Day this week, it is good for us to continue to reflect on the lives of the saints throughout the year and to learn from their example of holiness. These two examples of faith, John de LaLande and Hedwig, call out to us from many centuries ago, speaking of the way all of us can live out our religious vocation and how we can generously and selflessly live as disciples of Christ.  Each time period in history has its own challenges and difficulties.  In the midst of the challenges of their era of history, both St Hedwig and St John de LaLande heard the call of Jesus in their lives and responded courageously.  Every time period has its own changes and tumultuous events. We as modern disciples of Christ face our own challenges today.  As we think of stewardship in these next several weeks and as we think of the way God is calling us to live out our faith, let us not see the challenges of our current day putting up obstacles and barriers for us in they way we live out our faith, but rather let ourselves responding to our current reality creatively and boldly.  Let us use the stories of the saints as an inspiration in the way we live out our faith and in the way we respond to the call to stewardship. 

      Blessings to all of you - Father Lincoln.