by Lisa McKelvey
In one of my first emails to the Catholic faithful of the archdiocese, I highlighted the four pillars of stewardship: hospitality, prayer, formation and service. In that email, my message encompassed the immense hospitality that I have received since arriving in Kansas just a few months ago. Today, I want to highlight the importance of all kinds of prayer.
When we think of prayer, we often reflect on the prayers we memorized as children or the prayers that have structure, like the rosary and the Liturgy of the Hours.
When I think of prayer as one of the pillars of stewardship, I am focused on our personal prayer time. It wasn’t until I was in development that I considered the question: “How can we spend our prayer time in relation to our call to be good stewards of our resources?” I sat with that question and I kept thinking about the tried and true themes of time, talent and treasure.
Time: Are we being good stewards of our time and ensuring we have time for prayer? If our parish has a ministry tied to prayer, are we involved?
For me, my parish has perpetual adoration and while I can’t commit to a specific time, I volunteer the time I do have to being a substitute. Daily, I receive emails with opportunities to spend time with Our Lord and support my fellow parishioners by filling in for an hour of eucharistic adoration.
Talent: We are often asked to serve and use our talents in many different ways. Sometimes when you are asked, people would like an immediate response; however, taking time to pray about how you serve is reasonable and sometimes necessary.
Ministries don’t exist without a strong prayer life for the church. Each of us can pray for the ministry leaders and for those being served by the ministry. For me, the ministries of the archdiocese, especially those supported through your gifts to the Archbishop’s Call to Share, are in my prayers.
Treasure: In the spirit of stewardship, we often respond graciously when asked to support a cause, an event, our parish and the archdiocese. You have likely been asked to prayerfully consider a gift to support a particular initiative and that is one way to connect prayer with stewardship.
Each time I am asked for my financial support, I pray about why I would support the cause and how can I pray for this ministry that I am financially supporting. When my recurring gift is deducted, it is an extra opportunity for me to remember that ministry in prayer.
I invite you to consider how your personal prayer life can be aligned with your time, talents and treasure.
