About

As Director of Stewardship for the Lima Catholic Community, I believe we are following Christ more closely by taking time out of our busy lives for prayer. As we prepare our lives in Christ, there is no better time to take a look at the importance of prayer in our lives. One of the best uses of our time is in prayer. Without daily prayer most of us can never make the leap of faith required by total Christian stewardship. Should we set aside some time each day for formal prayer, such as mass, Eucharistic adoration, or the rosary? Or more importantly, making all of our life a prayer; preparing a meal, writing a memo, assisting our parish in ministry, supporting our youth, supporting a person in need, working with others, assisting a disabled person, forgiving a neighbor, volunteering or just being pleasant to people that we meet or work with each day.

Under the leadership of our Lima pastors, we have been able to form within each parish a stewardship team. This effort was completed in June with fifty-five citywide stewards committed to devoting three years of their talent to this ministry. Each parish stewardship team has been meeting twice a month. The two-hour meetings consist of prayer, faith sharing, and studying the U.S. Bishops’ Pastoral Letter on Stewardship. I would like to thank these fifty-five members who are committed to the total stewardship way of life. They are eager and ready to proceed.

During the months ahead, let us invest time in prayer. One of the greatest gifts God gives us is the twenty-four hours we get at the start of each day. All too often, we squander these 1,440 minutes. Maybe we could begin by private prayer in the morning, taking the first ten minutes to talk with God, even just listening to God speak to us. May our Almighty God renew our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit; “Send forth your Spirit, 0 Lord, and renew our hearts with the gift of truth”?