Passionate Steward - 10th Anniversary Edition

42 THE PASSIONATE STEWARD
Hence it is clear that should our personal disappointment in
the corporate Church give us cause to cease being passionate
stewards, it is not just the Church that will suffer, but we ourselves.
We can only pray that our individual stewardship strengthens the
Church in goodness and love, but we need only look to the schools,
soup kitchens, housing programs, health care networks and other
ministries we undertake to know that our stewardship upholds
countless others. So, for example, the gifts of our time and talent
have helped millions of children receive the moral, religious and
catechetical development we ourselves have held dear. We need to
recognize how many important ministries will lose our valuable
support if we let our anger or disappointment with individuals in the
Church dissuade us from being good stewards. If we quit being
passionate stewards, the “Out of the Cold” program for the
homeless supported by our congregation will lose financial support;
food that we donate through the Church’s regular collection of nonperishable
goods would not get to the tables of the poor and hungry;
and finally, we will find ourselves lesser people for not being true
to our baptismal covenant.
Our pursuit of passionate stewardship constantly engages us
in the senseless acts of charity and humanity that allow us to share
in Christ, and which give our life true purpose and meaning. In the
end, while we are not always pleased with the Church, we are better
off for it, for it is—even in its imperfection—the well from which
Christ provides our hope and salvation.