Stewardship matters: Pentecost style
Stewardship matters: Pentecost style
Come, O Holy Spirit, come, and from your celestial home, shed a ray of light divine!
Pentecost is just around the corner, and this is a moment for us to anticipate a new outpouring of power to serve in love and solidarity.
Think of a hydraulic lift. The lift already has structure. It has metal, hinges, levers, and purpose. But when hydraulic power is applied, what was already there is strengthened, elevated, and made capable of doing what it could not do on its own.
So it is with us.
All people are endowed with natural gifts. From the beginning, the human person is commissioned by God to cultivate and care for creation, to name creation, and to exercise dominion over the goods of the Earth for the good of all. In other words, we are not empty-handed before God. Each of us has been entrusted with abilities, interests, strengths, experiences, and talents.
Some people can organize a room, a parish dinner, or a whole festival without breaking a sweat. Some can listen with patience. Some can teach. Some can sing. Some can fix anything that breaks. Some can cook, sew, build, write, visit, encourage, lead, console, manage details, or bring people together.
These natural talents are not accidents. They are part of God’s providence.
But Pentecost shows us something more.
With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Christ, a new dispensation has entered human history. United in Christ and confirmed in the Spirit, believers are endowed not only with natural gifts, but also with supernatural gifts. The New Testament calls these gifts charisms.
A charism is a gratuitous gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not earned. It is not a reward for being extra holy. It is given for the building up of the Church and the good of others. The Scriptures speak of many such gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, prophecy, teaching, administration, service, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, hospitality, evangelization, and pastoring.
Charisms do not only elevate what is already there. Sometimes they are utterly new.
The Holy Spirit certainly builds upon, heals, elevates, and perfects our natural talents. But he is not limited to them. Sometimes the Spirit surprises us with unforeseen gifts. The shy person becomes a powerful witness. The practical person becomes deeply contemplative. The one who never thought of serving discovers joy in hospitality, prayer, formation, or service.
Like hydraulics in a lift, the Spirit does not replace the structure, but empowers it. He takes what God has already placed within us and gives it a new strength, a new direction, and a new capacity for service. But he can also give a new gift, open a new capacity, and awaken a new mission.
What might have remained merely useful becomes missionary. What might have stayed personal becomes ecclesial. What might have been hidden, or not yet present at all, becomes a gift for the whole Body of Christ.
This is why stewardship is never merely about filling slots on a ministry form. It is about deep discernment – discerning the gifts of God. The gifts we share are not merely our own. They are expressions of the one Holy Spirit alive within the Body of Christ.
The Spirit produces communion, what the New Testament calls “koinonia.” This communion is not only a spiritual feeling. It becomes concrete. It becomes the sharing of life, prayer, talent, time, treasure, and love. The Spirit forms us into one body, and then teaches us how to carry one another’s burdens.
This is stewardship in light of Pentecost.
The question is not simply, “What am I good at?” The deeper question is, “Holy Spirit, what have you placed within me, or what do you desire to give me, for the good of others?”
Pentecost teaches us that no disciple is ungifted. No member of the Church is unnecessary. Each person has something to offer, because each person has received something from God.
And when the Holy Spirit breathes life and love into those gifts, he does in us what hydraulics do in a lift. He strengthens what is already there, raises it beyond its natural capacity, and makes it powerful enough to serve. He may even give something utterly new.
This is stewardship in light of Pentecost: gifts received, gifts elevated, gifts newly given, and gifts shared for the building up of the Body of Christ.