June 23, 2019

When I was a child, I can remember stopping by my parish or another local Catholic church to just spend some time in prayer before the Holy Eucharist. We didn't have exposition and adoration much in those days, but we were keenly aware of the presence of Jesus in the tabernacle. I would sometimes stare at the lighted candle near it and know that Jesus was alive. I had never heard someone speak about a stewardship way of life back then. If I am honest, the primary message I heard in those days was along the lines of "We need to be as good as we are able." Sacrifice was only at Lent, disciples were people in the Bible, and generosity mostly had to do with the collection basket and the poor box at the church entrance. I even went to Catholic schools! Maybe the message of stewardship was there somewhere packaged differently, and I just missed it. It wasn't until I was an adult, and after acquiring two theology degrees, that I understood both with my head and my heart what a stewardship way of life really meant. But I look back at those days, and I realize that the groundwork was laid for me to understand these things. It was those times before the Holy Eucharist that I began to understand true sacrifice. It was at those times that I began to understand how actions and realities that seem so simple to the human eye can be so profound. And it was at those times that I began to see true love knows no bounds. - Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS