Good Stewardship
I am here outside the Galway Cathedral in Ireland
as we continue our pilgrimage with 44 pilgrims from San Jose.
The beautiful Galway Cathedral,
a Renaissance Cathedral built in in 1965 for the people of the West.
I want to bring you this homily
for the Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary time, Cycle C.
Today's gospel, we hear of this steward
that is asked to give a full account of his stewardship.
It reminds me that I have been so inspired
when I arrived in Ireland this time around,
to see how people are committed to taking care of the environment.
They are so ecologically conscious.
They reduce, they recycle, and they reuse.
It is spectacular to see the collective effort.
The source of this is began in 2021,
when the government signed legislation into law that by 2050,
that they would be completely carbon neutral as a nation.
Wow. It was so inspirational.
But even more inspirational is to find out that
they now are already at over 50% renewable energies,
of which 37% is coming from the wind farms.
This concerted effort is definitely good stewardship.
There is no question that they will make their goal in in 2050.
In fact, they might even make it by 2035
or even 2030 at this rate
because we are only in 2025,
and they are already 50% the way there.
It is inspirational for me and for all of us as pilgrims,
to recognize how this understanding of being
good stewards of God's creation
is part of the call of discipleship.
They may have stopped coming to church,
but they are faith filled people.
They love this church and they love God,
and they love their planet, their Earth,
their little place here called Ireland.
The Irish people have been persecuted for hundreds of years,
and their religion was made illegal for hundreds of those years.
They could not celebrate Mass publicly.
It was illegal to own any property if you were Catholic,
but they persevered.
What is so inspirational about this new level of commitment
is how it is energizing the local people at the lowest level.
It is really inspirating for us.
What does it mean for us as Americans,
living in in such a a wealthy society as Silicon Valley?
We are called to have that mindset.
I know California has an equally
audacious goal for carbon neutrality as well,
not anywhere near as this, but we can do our part.
we should because it is our common, this earth.
That is why I was so inspired by what Pope Francis
said in his document called Laudate Si, Care for Creation.
He inspired all of us to take seriously
that this is one common home for all of us
and that we all need to do our part to reduce what we use,
to recycle what we have, and to do everything
to reduce, recycle, and reuse.
In our own lives, that applies also to
our stewardship of time, our talent, and, yes, our treasure.
I find that is a deep challenge for us
and why this steward today in the gospel was interesting.
One understanding of this gospel is
when the steward was asked to give
a full account of his stewardship,
he immediately used his only weapon against his boss.
It would have been illegal to lend money
and instead they would lend oil, grain, and other items
then they charge exorbitant fees or interest.
So when this guy turns around and says, how much do you owe?
50% give me 50%.
He is asking for the original amount in full payment,
or the original amount that was loaned 80% of the original amount.
He was only asking for the original payment back immediately.
What could the owner do, he could not report him. Why?
Because then the owner would then be known as a scoundrel
for having clearly overcharged and being a money lender.
There is wisdom in this steward,
and the lord is pointing out that wisdom.
That is secularism and we need to apply that to our spiritual lives.
So that is what you and I need to do.
We have to be wise about what gifts that we have.
It is not just about what how much money we have,
although that is a gift for sure.
But if we can realize that our time is our gift,
that we all have only so much time.
We are stewards of our our eighty five years that we might get,
maybe if we are lucky 90.
But for a lot of us, we do not even get that eighty five.
For me, I am 60.
That means that I am going to have 25 left or so.
How am I thinking about how I use that time well?
How do I give myself away not expecting anything in return?
No interest. I know the interest will be paid, that I am paying it forward.
And for what purpose?
For the common good.
So that others can have what I have.
I feel incredibly blessed,
and I think, and I hope you do, by God's blessings on me.
I do not think I have done anything to merit those blessings,
but I feel then compelled to use those gifts for the sake of others,
to make others people's lives richer in time, talent, and treasure.
So what am I asking of you?
I am asking of you to think about your own stewardship.
Yes. To double down on how we use our planet
and our resources to reduce what we use if we can,
to reuse what we can, and then recycle what we we cannot.
And to commit to our care for our creation,
but also care for a creation of one another.
That we care for those who are most in need,
those who are broken by circumstances
that are often beyond their own control,
that they are wounded, sick, or homeless.
Sometimes, yes, it is by bad choices that they have made.
But often those bad choices are result of wounds
that they have, often because of others.
Can we be compassionate to these groups,
whether they are homeless, broken, or ill,
or whether they are illegal immigrants,
or whether they are family members
who are not fully integrated to our family anymore.
Or maybe they are in our greater community,
as members of the LGBTQ community,
or maybe it is the married and divorced.
There are so many people we can help.
Let us not languish and take for granted
all the years that we might have
and all the gifts that we will be given.
But let us take seriously today, here, right now,
how we are going to hold ourselves accountable
to the Lord's challenge of holding a full account of our stewardship.
Let's examine how we use our time, talent, and treasure
for the greater glory of God.