St. Thomas More - Time, Talent and Treasure

Time

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Time is a gift from God. In stewardship spirituality, we think of time and talent being connected. One has to spend time giving of one's talent, so the two are obviously linked. But reflecting upon time alone gives further insights into the spirituality of stewardship.

The timelessness of God is found in the "Glory Be" prayer.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Yes, God's world is not like our world. Time is a creation of God. Time is for our created world, it's limited, and it will have an end. We clearly hear in Scriptures that Jesus will return at "the end of time." Since time is a creation of our world, perhaps time has been created solely for our human benefit. This is a staggering thought in the light of the millions and billions of years that have passed before human existence. Perhaps time was created so that the phrase, "In the fullness of time, God sent His only Son to be our Redeemer," would take on greater meaning. In comparison to the vast amount of time that has passed before us, a relatively short time has passed since Jesus made the announcement, "This is the time of fulfillment; the kingdom of God is at hand."

We have learned from science that time and space are intricately connected since they are a function of each other. Since God is timeless, He is also space-less. The world of the afterlife, where God lives, has no time; it has no space. God's world is not like our world. These are qualities of our world that need to be appreciated for the gift that they are. I believe that when we no longer have them, we will appreciate them for the gift that they are.

I believe we will be able to look upon all of our time and how we spent it. How we prioritize our time will reveal our motives and intentions. We will remember the hours we spent watching movies or television. Time spent with family will be compared with time spent working. The time spent with God will stand out in a special way. Will this review of our time betray us and reveal us to be hypocrites?

Time spent in prayer is time well spent. In the beginning God took six days to create and on the seventh day He rested. As a reminder, these are divine days, since an earthly day was created on the fourth day when God created the sun and the moon. Scripture tells us in Psalm 90 that a thousand years is like a day, and a day is like a thousand years. Whatever these divine days mean to God, who has no time, He took the seventh day and made it holy.

We imitate God since we have seven days in our week, with Sunday the day set aside for rest. Six days may be considered ours but the seventh day belongs to God. That is why Sunday is called the "Lord's Day." The main reason for the prohibition of work is so we would have the time to pray. I like to say, "Remember the days when to miss Mass on Sunday was a sin? Well, it still is." Yes, the primacy of Sunday being a day of prayer is important in stewardship spirituality. Please note that attending Saturday evening Mass is a fulfillment of our Sunday obligation.

In stewardship spirituality we fulfill an obligation of being thankful for this gift of time by giving a portion back to God in prayer. The portion that is given back to God is called the tithe; the first ten percent of this gift is to be given back to God in thanksgiving. In respect to time, we would be asked to give the first and the best of it. Sunday being the first day of the week has a special place in our time marked out for prayer. The one-tenth portion of a day is two hours and 24 minutes. Being conscious of the amount of time we spend in prayer will allow us to pass the best of our time ever mindful of it being a gift to us.

Well, that's what many people in religious orders do. For those who already have a dedication to a prayer life, wouldn't it be wonderful if added to that spirituality was the understanding that the time spent in prayer is that of being a good steward accepting, receiving and giving back the gift of time that God has given to us? It gives greater meaning to a prayer life. You might say, "I'm doing this as a gift back to God."

This is particularly true for me as a priest. There maybe two or three days a week; when I get to tithe two hours and 24 minutes of time back to God. I'm celebrating Mass; I'm hearing confessions; I'm praying the Rosary; and I'm leading a group in prayer. And when I do that and it starts to seem burdensome to me I remind myself, "Wait a minute, this is my opportunity to tithe this time back to God in thanksgiving for what God has done." I'm being a good steward of time. And when I realize that I'm saying, "Wait a minute. Where is the present moment in this?" Then it gets me deeper into the prayer that I'm praying. The distractions become something further away. When we become aware that distractions are part of interfering with the present moment, then we deepen our prayer life.

Making time to pray can be seen in this story: During the lunch hour the president of a large factory wanted to talk to his company's manager about an urgent matter, but the manager's secretary said, "He is in conference as he is every day at this time." "But," said the impatient official, "Tell him the president wants to see him." The secretary firmly replied, "I have strict orders not to disturb him when he is in conference. Angrily, he brushed the secretary aside and opened the door to the manager's private office. After one look, he backed out slowly, and gently closed the door, and said, "I'm sorry. Is this a daily occurrence?" "Yes, everyday he spends 15 minutes in such a conference," said the secretary. The president had found the manager on his knees before an open Bible. Of course, the 15-minute daily conference was with God.

Sometimes people feel distracted when they pray. Understanding the relationship of prayer to time can be helpful in this matter. Experiencing time in relation to the present moment is a critical idea in understanding time as a gift, and is even more important when we see the link of time to prayer. Time can seem elusive because we view time as being past, present and future. As hard as it may seem, time is only experienced in the here and now. There is the constant temptation to live time as if it were either in the future or the past. When we begin to think like this, we rob ourselves of the present moment and we lose peace and serenity. By living in the future, we experience worry and fear. By living in the past, we are plagued by guilt and shame. Only in the present moment is there any relief. Finding that present moment is where we also find the presence of God.

When we try to seek to live in the past without the involvement of God in the present moment, we fail miserably. Historians have a noble profession but have always found their efforts ultimately take on meaning in relation to the present. Planners and developers dream dreams that ultimately have their meaning also in the present. Living in the here and now means adopting spiritual principles that recognize time as a gift.

In our modern society, we have many timesaving devices, yet less time than ever! Over-activity and the pursuit of leisure activities rob us of the present moment. Being busy has us scurrying about, causing a lack of focus and priorities. We become too busy to pray. Some are too busy to attend Sunday Mass. Time gets hijacked by the business world. Time is money, and no losses will be recorded by the industrious. This kind of utilitarian way of thinking wickedly transforms time into being a measure of production and efficiency. Time becomes a curse and not a blessing. The pursuit of pleasure also makes time into a commodity. Our hedonistic tendency needs time to experience gratification. Of course, one can never get enough, as temperance is a casualty of pursuit of pleasure. God is lost, or forgotten, because the gift of the present moment becomes irrelevant.

These threats need to be consciously addressed as we reclaim the present moment out of respect for God. Time is a gift, a gift from God. True peace and serenity will not be found in deed or gratification, but in God. The spiritual principle of stewardship resets our priority upon the primacy of God as creator. We are creatures of His created order, an order of time and space. Past and future have their places as do fear and shame. Emotional freedom is found in the here and now and recognizes life as being lived in the present moment.

Stewards of all that God gives us, we are ever conscious of the gift of time. We don't find time to pray, we make time to pray. Time spent in prayer is balanced with the time experienced each moment of our lives. When we are too far ahead of ourselves, we know that we will experience fear and worry. When we are too far behind ourselves, we will experience guilt and shame. The good steward acts rightly, loves goodness and walks humbly with his God. (Micah 6:8) First things are done first and one thing is done at a time. We stay focused upon the primacy of God and see every moment as a gift. In all things may God be glorified.

Time, in stewardship spirituality, is more than time spent in giving of our talents. It is an attitude that stays focused and unafraid. Being God-conscious in all that we do keeps us ever linked to the present because only God is found in the here and now. This spiritual understanding of time is important to understanding and embracing the spirituality of stewardship.

Talent

"We have gifts that differ according to the favor bestowed on each of us." Romans 12:6

The English word "talent" originated in the Bible which describes talent as a unit of money. It's a coin representing a specific amount of money.

The Scriptures gave us a great story: A man goes on a great journey and he leaves his servants ten talents, five talents and one talent--a unit of money. The Bible then explains that the men did something with their talents. One went and invested his portion and doubled it. The next one doubled his also, but the last one took his one talent and buried it in a hole. Of course we know how the story ends. The master comes back and praises the first two for winning their master's joy and then says to the worthless servant, "What's wrong with you? You knew I would come back and ask for an accounting." Then he takes the talent away from him and the servant has lost what wasn't even his in the first place. Remember, they don't say he buried his own money; it was his master's money that he buried.

Remember this, a talent is something that is not our own. I have to convince myself of that sometimes. I'm trained as an artist. Right now a lot of my art training is on hold. Most parishioners don't know that I'm an artist. They have never seen me do any artwork, so they have no clue. Although I was able to leave behind a work of art in my previous parish, I still ask: "God, what about the talent you gave me in art? How am I going to use that?" And my mind tells me, "It's coming; it will have a way of coming out." It's not mine. It's God's gift to me and it's how well I use it. I have other talents and I use those in a way that I believe God is directing me to. Romans 12:6 affirms this truth, "We have gifts that differ according to the favor bestowed on each of us."

As with yourself, every one of us is given talents, some more, some less. And with each of the talents we received, we are asked first of all to appreciate them, to be grateful for God's gifts. Remember how we were being grateful for the gift of time? We need to see everything as gift, and that's why gratitude is an underlying value. We begin to understand that we are re not our own. We need to identify with our Master and we need to be trustworthy and to trust that God gives us talent to use well and to use it honestly and with integrity.

Again, the talent is a reflection of God the creator. God has created us in His image and likeness, and the abilities that we have are in some sense a reflection of who God is in us, and we all reflect God a little differently in the talents that we have. Remember, we're not our own. We were created for God and we and our talents reflect the goodness and creativity of God as well as the activity of God in one another.

As we see that our talent is not our own and that we should use it for God and for the benefit of God, we realize that part of this gift of our talent needs to be given back to God in thanksgiving for what He has done. Tithing of one's talent is a difficult quantity to put together, so giving a tenth of one's talent is something I don't know how to tell you to do. I have yet to hear anybody really explain that one, and I'm open for suggestions. But I do know that at least making a commitment of one's time and talent together has been the way most people see time, because you have to give of your time to be able to give of your talent. So that's how the two were put together in discussing stewardship.

I like to separate out our time in prayer because that's an important one for all of us Christians. Everybody says prayer is important. Well then do it! Make a schedule; set it up so that you're at least spending two hours and twenty-four minutes a week in prayer. At least tithe one day a week of prayer throughout the week. It is the same thing with talent. Tithe your talent back to God by putting time and talent together-tithe that back to God in thanksgiving for all that God has done.

Treasure

"Where your treasure is, there your heart is also." Luke 12:34

Treasure is everything that God has given to us; it's not just the money that God provides. It's the food, it's the shelter, it's the clothing, and it's all of those qualities that God has given to us as a gift. Now in our society, when we've become "self-sufficient," meaning, that we're more than self-sufficient, we can start thinking: "I'm providing for myself. I'm making that money happen. I'm earning the salary. I'm paying the bills. I bought all of this stuff."

What do you mean God gave it to me?" Well, God gives us our every breath. God makes everything happen to enable us to have our job, our health, and the ability to keep the job we have. God has created the economy and He blesses us. I believe this. God Bless America! God has blessed America. I believe that when we get rid of our greed and look with humility and thankfulness at all that God has given us, we will realize how incredibly blessed we are in this country, and that God keeps on blessing us. We have so much in comparison to other countries.

When we look at treasure as a gift of all the things that God has given us, we need to remind ourselves that what God gives us is not our own. It belongs to God; He gives it all to us.

It is like renting something, which we may or may not treat in the best way because, well, it's a rental. Suppose you took it and never turned it back in, that would be stealing. In much the same way, God has "rented" everything to us and He doesn't ask us to return it all back to Him. He says, however, that just so you won't forget that all this isn't yours, "I want a tenth of it back." That's what stewardship is. God has given it all to you, it's not ours, and He doesn't ask for all of it back; He doesn't ask for half of it back; he just asks for ten percent as a reminder to ourselves that it really isn't ours. That's our constant reminder-- "None of it is mine. I'm just thankful I got to keep 90 percent."

When you give 10 percent back, that's tithing. What a great idea the tithe is. In the Old Testament everybody knows that you give a tithe and we've heard about that. But do we remember how it gets used? The tithe is given to the Levites. Now there were 12 tribes, and Levi was one of them. The 12 tribes of Israel all got land except for one. It was the Levites that didn't get land. Well, how are they going to have a farm? How are they going to raise food to feed themselves? How will they live if they don't have any land? They are given some cities, but they are given no land. How can they survive? God told Moses that the people, that the other tribes, would provide for the tribe of Levi by tithing. They would give their food to the Levites and that's how the Levites would survive.

What kind of a system would be developed to implement this? The Leviticus tribe provided the priests. To be a priest you had to be in perfect condition, you had to be male, and you had to be between the ages of 25 and 50. If you had a broken finger or a bad eye, you couldn't be a priest. But if a person was spotless, unblemished, male and a Levite, that person would become a priest. The priests offered sacrifices and also helped run Israel. They had the responsibility of collecting the tithe. After all, they had to feed mom and dad and sister and brother. The people would bring the tithe in so it could be used to feed everyone.

The Levites also were required to tithe, and this tithe provided for the poor. In the Old Testament the poor were directly provided for in the year of Jubilee, it was the time when debts were forgiven, land was returned (no farming); and the prisoners and slaves set free. There was a prohibition on interest and on taking collateral for loans from their neighbor. They could charge foreigners; you couldn't charge your neighbor. There was an obligation to tithe. Even in the fields, the poor were allowed by law to glean.

If you look in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the third section is about the Moral Life, and the Ten Commandments. The seventh commandment, "thou shall not steal," is all about stewardship. Read it and you might be surprised by what is there. It's about private property and about having an obligation. Private property is not an absolute; the goods of creation are destined for the entire human race. We can own it, and we're allowed to own what we need for ourselves, but there's also an obligation to others outside of ourselves and our privacy and it has to do with justice and charity. When we do not give our money to the poor, we are stealing from them.

That's what the catechism describes. We have an obligation to the poor, and where do we find it? In the commandment "Thou shall not steal." There's one other place that treasure and stewardship is mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It is in the fourth section, the one on prayer, in the "Our Father": "Give us this day our daily bread." We have an image of God providing; He gives us everything we need. Remember, this is about treasure. God gives us everything we need and the Catechism addresses the issue of the poor and recalls for us a beautiful parable.

There were two men, a rich man and a poor man, and the poor man's name was Lazarus. And there he was at the gates of the rich man and he was covered with sores. Even the dogs would lick the sores on him. And the rich man ate splendidly every day and poor Lazarus longed to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. One day the poor man dies and he is immediately whisked to Heaven and in the arms of Father Abraham. Sure enough, the rich man dies and finds himself in torment and flames. He looks up and sees Lazarus in the arms of Father Abraham and calls out, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus down here to give me some water." And Father Abraham says, "No, Lazarus is not coming to give you any water. You were well off in your life and now you suffer, whereas poor Lazarus was poor off and now he's found consolation." And he says, "Besides, he can't come down to you and you can't come up to us. There's a chasm between the two." And then the rich man says, "Well then, send him to my family. I have five brothers. Tell them so that they don't end up in this terrible place like me." Father Abraham says, "Look, if they won't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe if someone rises from the dead," a reference to Jesus, rising from the dead.

What does that story tell us? The rich man is not condemned for being rich. He is condemned for not caring for the poor. You see, God gives us everything we need to live and God even gives us the portion--the tithe--to be give back to Him. People tend to think it's theirs and they tend to keep it for themselves. It isn't ours. It belongs to God. "Give us this day our daily bread" applied to Lazarus. God gave Lazarus his daily bread. The problem is he didn't get it. The rich man kept it for himself. That's the problem of poverty in the world. The rich keep the tithe for themselves and don't feed the poor. And "the poor you will always have with you," Jesus tells us.

So when we have poverty in our midst it's proof that we're not treating the treasure that God has given to us with the respect that God expects of us. The tithe, that 10 percent, isn't ours. It is to be used to take care of the needs of the poor. The rich man would not have even noticed the scraps that fell from his table, he probably wouldn't have noticed if he had given the first and best 10 percent to Lazarus. Do you think the rich man would have ended up with less? God would have given the rich man even more. You will find out that God loves a good steward because He can trust him. What happens when you are trustworthy, or you're in charge of something and you find someone who is trustworthy, do you give them less or do you give them more? You give them more of course, or you take on more. God will give you more and He'll give you more to manage, He'll give you more to take care of. You know what? You don't have to give all that increase away. He just says give 10 percent of it away. So you get 90 percent more. You think, well, I'll tithe again, and God will again give you more.

That's what God does. It is amazing. I've watched it happen. You will not end up with less. You'll end up with more. Lazarus would have had his stomach full and the rich man would have had just as much food on his table and would not have noticed any lack. In fact, he would have had more food on his table. In that sense, we need to talk about treasure and how the tithe worked in the Old Testament. First of all, the tithe is not leftovers. You can't look at everything you have and then say, "Okay, whatever I can spare and whatever I can do without I give to God." That's not it at all. It needs to be an action of the first priority. It is the first fruits of the harvest. It's not after sweeping up the grain bins that you figure out what you're going to give to God. It is the first thing that is picked.

There's a story of a little village where a missionary came and talked all about tithing. A little boy went fishing and when he returned he came and knocked on the door of the missionary and said, "Here's my fish." The missionary asked, "Where are the other nine?" The boy said, "They're still in the river. I haven't caught them yet." He gave his first fish! This is a great story about trust. He trusted that God would provide and give him those other fish. It should be the same with us. We need to give the first tenth to God knowing that the other nine are in the river and that God will give them to us. Can we do that? It's what was expected of the Israelites, they gave the first fruits to God, not knowing what the rest of the crop would bring.

When the Israelites offered a lamb for sacrifice, they did not pick out the blind and lame one. They didn't ask, "Which lamb can I do without?" They found the prettiest, the most beautiful, and the healthiest one-year-old male lamb without blemish, the best one. That's the one that was given to God and by God as our sacrifice. So it is in stewardship spirituality, when you're looking at treasure and it's time to tithe we need an attitude change, we need to give not what's leftover but what we have now. We give to God in thanksgiving for what God has done and we give our first and our best.

My personal practice is to get ahead of my tithe. I like to give more at the beginning of the year than I do at the end of the year. A lot of people catch up at the end of the year. I front load the year. I think that if God's going to really bless me, He might really surprise me. I don't want to find out I'm behind in my tithe when He is blessing. It's an attitude change I made in myself because then I'm always looking for the blessings of God and I find out that God has already blessed me. I don't look for some sort of extraordinary way God has blessed me. I start appreciating the ordinary blessings that I have and I'm grateful.

That's what it does for me personally when I'm ahead of my tithe. I keep giving. I keep challenging myself saying, "Okay, maybe I can give more." I'll just keep giving more. And I find out more keeps coming in. Try it. You'll find out. You cannot outdo God in generosity. You cannot. Try it. Try giving half of it away and see what happens. You'll get it all back and more. That's just how God works. It's amazing.