A new year brings a flood of secular promotions for a fresh start for our health and physical well-being: joining a gym, subscribing to a diet plan, renewing membership in a fitness club. Companies, and even some individuals, plot out their plan for the year: goals they’d like to meet, property they’d like to acquire, connections they want to make. Families set benchmarks too: finding the right college for their high schooler, researching new summer camps, contributing to their retirement account.
Where can our spiritual stewardship resolutions fit in?
Sometimes we are not motivated at the beginning of January. We may be tired from happy holidays or stressed from unmet expectations at family gatherings. How can we muster the enthusiasm for making plans, let alone doing something new?
It is in times of both joy and disappointments that God gently beckons.
In Scripture, we see how God encourages us to think of others rather than ourselves to acquire a fresh perspective and lens of compassion. In 1 Peter 3:8 we see: “… be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” It is a wise prescription for loosening our inner focus and breaking the stalemate of familiarity with our own challenges or boredom.
Embracing deep compassion opens a path to new dimensions of stewardship.
The root words for compassion reveal new layers of meaning for us to respond to. In Latin, “com” means “together,” and “passio” means “to suffer.” Our compassion then moves past understanding or empathy to a fuller relationship of service. Our actions go beyond writing a check of contribution or offering a quick prayer for those in need. We can reflect on this New Year Stewardship Prayer to strengthen our awareness of others and drive a deeper call to compassionate service:
Give us wisdom to take
advantage of opportunities
we may have to help and
serve others,
to bring peace to the hearts of those who are troubled,
and hope to those who suffer.*
*Source: International Catholic Stewardship Conference
