managing to move on
"He called in his servants and handed his funds over to them according to each man's abilities. To one he disbursed five thousand silver pieces, to a second two thousand, and to a third a thousand." —Matthew 25:14-15
God the Father expects us to be good managers of everything He has given us. We must follow His directions to invest everything we have into serving God's kingdom "of justice, peace, and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit" (see Rm 14:17). Because the Lord has commanded us to love Him with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strength (Lk 10:27), He expects us to manage, according to His will, literally all He has given us. This means every penny, second, heartbeat, step, and breath. The slightest detail of life is to be under His lordship and managed for His kingdom.
This seems very severe unless we are in love with the Father, disciples of Jesus, and temples filled with the power of the Spirit. In other words, we must be much more than managers for the Lord in order to meet His humanly impossible demands regarding stewardship.
Managing what the Lord has entrusted to us is a beginning. The Lord promised that if we were good and faithful managers, He would put us "in charge of larger affairs" (Mt 25:21, 23; see also Lk 16:10). So we must go beyond stewardship to discipleship, beyond management to total abandonment to God's will. Go forward and "run toward the prize to which God calls [us] —life on high in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14).
Prayer: Father, may I throw myself into the ultimate adventure: the Christian life.
Promise: "He has made Him our Wisdom and also our Justice, our Sanctification, and our Redemption." —1 Cor 1:30
Praise: St. Augustine, a sinful intellectual, opened a Bible at random to Romans 13:13-14. Pierced by God's word, he repented, was baptized Catholic, and spent his life defending and spreading the faith.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Richard L. Klug, January 16, 2004
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 26, 2004