Get Ready for Renewal

Next week we begin the season of Lent which calls us to renewal in our spiritual lives.  We follow Jesus into the desert for forty days of renewed prayer and penance.  The Church calls this time a period of “purification and enlightenment” not only for those preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation, but for all of us.  So next weekend we will focus on Stewardship of Prayer, and we will do so in a renewed way.  

Have you ever felt a little awkward about filling out a stewardship card during Mass?  In the past few years, we have given you a few minutes to consider a list of various ways to pray, and then commit to some of them.  Many of you have responded enthusiastically and offered your commitment to God by placing your card in the basket in the sanctuary.  But our stewardship committee has been prayerfully reflecting on this process and has come up with a renewed way to do stewardship here at IHM.

Imagine having more time to prayerfully consider how the Lord is inviting you to Stewardship of Prayer.  This year we invite you to visit the Stewardship page of our website and click on the “Stewardship of Prayer Form.”  There you can reflect upon various suggestions for prayer.  Some of those suggestions may contain a link which can give you more information about that item and resources to assist you.  So, instead of feeling pressured to complete the card during Mass, you can take more time to prayerfully discern how the Lord is calling you into prayer.  Then, when you are ready, you can enter your commitment on the form and submit it through our website.  

I imagine that you may have some questions about this new process, like:  

1)  Why should we bother to submit the form?  If you submit the form with your name and email, then we can reply to you, acknowledging your commitment, offering encouragement, and perhaps offering some resources to help with your prayer.  

2)  What about the baskets at Mass which connect our stewardship commitment to the Sacrifice of the Mass?  Stewardship of Prayer cards will be in the pews next weekend which have two parts.  One part contains a prayer and a QR code which will take you to the Stewardship page of our website.  The other part is for your name, and it simply says, “I commit to look at the Stewardship of Prayer Form on the website and prayerfully discern my response.”  It is that part of the form that we will invite you to place in the basket, connecting your intention to the Offertory of Mass.  

3)  What about those people who are uncomfortable or unable to visit our website?  We will have people in the narthex with computers to lead you carefully through the process. 

The Stewardship Committee thinks this new process of stewardship will be especially helpful for us in some of the other phases of stewardship.  Even Fr. Andrew, the Master of Parish Stewardship, thinks this is a “brilliant” new idea.  So let’s give it a try!  Remember, one of the core values of the spirituality of stewardship is trust.  As we make a commitment to give of ourselves, we trust that the Lord will provide for us.  Let’s trust the process and try something new during this season of renewal.