Living our faith means living in the Spirit. When we live in the Spirit of God we realize that everything that we are and everything that we have comes as a gift from God. We are gifted in many ways by God: with our bodies, our minds, our talents, our wealth, our education and abilities. These gifts are given by God to build the Body of Christ. Each of us brings our own particular gifts to the task of building the Body, the Church. Stewardship is the Christian concept of sharing our gifts. It is not a tactic to get us to donate more time or money to the Church. Rather, it is the way that a Christian becomes the person and member of the Church that God calls him/her to be by using one’s gifts.
In the Church we speak of Time, Treasure, Talent, and Testimony. These are four expressions of how we can acknowledge that what we have comes from God. When we share freely what has been given freely we experience Blessing. All parishioners at Our Lady of Sorrows are invited and encouraged to discover the depth and breadth of God’s love by sharing their gifts. To this end, we host regular “Strengths” workshops and activities to help us understand what our Talents are and how that can be used. We have an ongoing “Parish Campaign” that allows parishioners to commit some of their financial resources to the support of the parish, its physical plant, and ministries. We have ministries that allow parishioners to witness to their faith as lectors, Eucharistic ministers, society members, ushers, food pantry volunteers, members of the choir, office help, etc.