Fr. Jirak expands on the stewardship theme of ‘neighbor’

By Fr. John Jirak
May the Lord give you peace!

This year’s stewardship theme is “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37) These words come from the lips of our Savior, Jesus Christ, making the command divine – it comes from God himself.

Jesus’s command, “Go and do likewise,” is his response to a scholar’s question: “And who is my neighbor?” In this passage, Jesus reinforces the two great commandments of love of God and neighbor, as cited by the scholar in verses 25 and 26.

How relevant this question is to those of us living out our discipleship in a stewardship diocese! Stewardship is an act of sharing directed to God and our neighbor. As stewards, we must ask ourselves: who is the recipient of our generosity, who is our neighbor?

The Good Samaritan

Through the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches the scholar who his neighbor truly is. In the story, a man is beaten and left for dead by robbers. A priest and a Levite pass by without offering help. Then, a Samaritan stops, cares for the wounded man, and even pays for his recovery. Jesus asks, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robber’s victim?” The scholar replies, “The one who treated him with mercy.”

Who is your neighbor?

In this parable, Jesus redefines the concept of neighbor to extend beyond those to whom we have a responsibility within the circle of justice to those within the circle of mercy. Justice demands that we give to each person what is due to them. Neighbors include family, employers, countrymen, etc.

Mercy, however, goes beyond justice to embrace those to whom we owe nothing. Practicing justice is challenging enough; it requires us to move beyond self-interest and group loyalty to give others what is their due. But mercy calls us to love others as God loves them – a divine love we may often overlook. Ironically, those who should have been the most attuned to mercy’s demands, the priest and the Levite, saw the victim and thought, “Not my problem.”

Love selflessly

Helping people to whom we owe nothing is actually the only way we can love God with the same selfless love he has for us. St. Catherine of Siena refers to this as gratuitous love. In a beautiful passage from The Dialogue, the Heavenly Father directs Catherine to love him as he loves her: “I ask you to love me with the same love with which I love you, for I loved you without being loved. Whatever love you have for me you owe me, so you love me not gratuitously. So you cannot give me the kind of love that I ask of you.”

Loving God by living out the stewardship way of life extends to merciful love, and we hear from The Dialogue the logic of Divine love. The Heavenly Father instructs Catherine, “This is why I put you among your neighbors: so that you can do for them what you cannot do for me—that is, love them without any concern for thanks and without looking for any profit for yourself. And whatever you do for them, I will consider done for me.”

This year’s stewardship renewal theme, “Go and do likewise,” invites us to first discern who our neighbor is. Jesus teaches us that our neighbor includes those to whom we technically owe nothing. By showing mercy to these neighbors, we reveal the merciful face of the Father and truly live out stewardship in love of God and neighbor. In the second part of this article, I will address our specific parish community as the neighbor to whom we share our gifts in merciful love.

Fr. Jirak is vicar for Evangelization, Discipleship, and Stewardship and pastor of Church of the Magdalen Parish in Wichita.