STEWARDSHIP—LIVING CHRISTIANITY [ RADICALLY]

New World Articles

By Rich Goode

Sometimes I think I got just enough education to fret over and question everything. I can never leave "well enough alone." Doesn't it seem so easy for some people when it comes to faith? You know the type. They don't seem to agonize over questions and doubts. They trust their faith for what it is. They don't need to suffer through "dark nights of the soul" to come to their faith. They're not skeptics like me. I envy them.

I'll say one thing in my defense. I think I have some pretty good company. Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, came to her Catholic faith after years of doubt and fret. Even after she found her faith, she didn't always trust it.

In her autobiography "The Long Loneliness," she describes a moment of questioning and, finally, realization. Soon after her conversion, she found herself questioning the sincerity of her prayer life. "I thought suddenly, scornfully," she writes, "Here you are in the stupor of content. Prayer with you is like the opiate of the people." Then, amid her fussing, she stops herself.

"But," she reasoned, "I am praying because I'm happy, not because I'm unhappy. I did not turn to God in unhappiness, in grief, in despair--to get consolation, to get something from him. I had been passing through some years of fret and strife . even some weeks of sadness and despair. There had been periods of intense joy but seldom had there been the quiet beauty and happiness I had now."

In other words, she moved from prayer rooted in worrying and constant self-examination, sprinkled with occasional moments of peace, to a faith life distinguished by thanksgiving for countless blessings.

In this passage, I think she describes an important moment in the journey of stewardship. It is a moment when we see the world through totally new lenses and it changes everything. She describes the movement from self-obsessed fretting to simple gratitude.

In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, society encourages us to focus on what we don't have. Messages abound that attempt to convince us that we need their product to be complete, whether it's a new DVD player or a better investment portfolio.

Stewardship turns this message on its head. You are surrounded by the blessings of a God who cherishes you. Suddenly, your house is not too small, your car too old or your friends to few. Even your hardships are transformed into opportunities to grow closer to God.

It marks a maturation in our faith life, I think, when we go from fretting to gratitude. When I get there, I'll let you know.

Goode is director of Planned Giving for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Reach him at rgoode@archchicago.org