“In the town of Pontchateau, St. Louis DeMontfort inspired the peasants to build a huge monument to the Passion of Christ on a neighboring hill.  For 15 months, hundreds of peasants volunteered their skills and labor to build it.  When completed, it stood as a massive structure, a real labor of love, and on the day before it was supposed to be dedicated by the bishop, word got back to St. Louis that his enemies had convinced the government to destroy it. (They had lied to the authorities, saying that the structure was actually meant to be a fortress against the government.)  When Louis received this disappointing news, he told the thousands of people who had gathered for the blessing ceremony, ‘We had hoped to build a Calvary here.  Let us build it in our hearts.  Blessed be God.’” And the monument was leveled.

Taken from 33 Days to Morning Glory by Michael Gaitley, MIC, p. 35   

I was reminded of this story this week as I pondered and studied the Scripture readings which will be proclaimed at Mass this coming Sunday.  In both the Old Testament reading (1 Kings 17:10-16) and the Gospel (Mark 12:38-44) we are presented with a story of a widow who lives in great poverty and need and nevertheless shows great generosity.  In 1 Kings, the widow, despite the fact that she is near starvation and almost out of flour and oil, trusts Elijah’s word and feeds him before feeding herself and her son.  In return her jars of flour and oil miraculously do not go empty for a year.  In the Gospel, Jesus, watching those who are making contributions to the Temple treasury, witnesses a widow giving two small coins worth only a few cents.  He comments, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury.”  Both of these stories share the witness of one who shows such complete detachment to material things and such great trust in God’s providence that they are able to give away their “whole livelihood.”

All three of these stories highlight an essential characteristic of the Catholic Steward – detachment; detachment in many areas of life.  I am struck by the strength shown by St. Louis in the meekness he displayed.  Knowing of his reputation as being a man with a temper, I did not expect the story to end this way when I began it.  I thought he would probably fiercely defend the work of the peasants against this unjust treatment.  Instead, he thanks God for the misfortune and offers no resistance to the destruction of his plans and their hard work.  Many times our work does not go as planned.  Sometimes we work hard on a project, putting into it tremendous resources, time and energy, only to have it crumble before us.  At the very least, we feel terribly discouraged if not outraged and angry.  Can you imagine having the trust in St. Paul’s words that St. Louis must have had, “All things work for good for those who love God.” (Romans 8:28) To be able to offer both our successes and our apparent failures equally to God and trust that He will bring good out of both takes great humility, meekness and detachment but also brings great peace and freedom. Similarly, the complete trust in God’s providence shown by both widows is extraordinary and points again to this virtue of meekness, and the great strength that lies behind it. 

Living the Catholic Way of Life means living a life of detachment, detachment from our wealth, our success, our expected outcomes.  It means acknowledging that all things in the end are God’s and accepting His invitation into the trust of the widows.  Like them, he asks us to have the courage to trust in His providence.  Like St. Louis, when we grow in the ability to acknowledge and act out of the truth that God brings good out of all things, we are free to live lives of generous service to Him without counting the cost and requiring a successful outcome. 

In the coming week, we all have the opportunity to exercise a similar commitment to detachment and generosity in our prayerful response to the Diocesan Annual Appeal.   In discussing this with a local parishioner this past week, she shared with me that whenever she writes a check to the church or other charity, she writes in the memo line GPR (God’s Prosperity Returned).  This is the action of a steward who “receives God’s gifts gratefully, shares them lovingly, and returns them generously to the Lord.”   

I hope you choose to Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight … “and honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce” not because the Church needs your support for its many programs (which we do), but because, more importantly, we need to give generously and sacrificially for our own sanctification. 

Living this Catholic Way of Life

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