February 13-14, 2010

You know, it seems ironic that we begin the Sunday of our Archdiocesan Catholic Stewardship Appeal by saying blessed are the "poor." Yet it is in identifying our own poverty of spirit that allows us to understand our ultimate reliance on God. We need God. Hello, I'm Archbishop Jerome Listecki.

Jeremiah the prophet declares: "Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is the Lord". I have had the privilege of walking the final months of life with a number of individuals. As more and more material things were taken away, the focus of what really is important starts to become so very clear.

One gentleman who I walked with in his final months had been away from the Church for a number of years. He had become financially successful. He had a good marriage and had been blessed with children.

However he was what many would refer to as a self made man. His relationship to faith was Mass at Christmas and Easter, commonly referred to as a "Christer. He was generous to various charities but did not see the connectedness of his efforts to a responsibility to brothers and sisters in Christ. His achievement was of his own making.

Then a diagnosis was given to him, a severe stage of bone cancer -- perhaps he had a year and a half to live. He immediately started to get his life in order, making sure his family was financially secure, his business affairs addressed.

However what was missing was his relationship to God. In one manner, he confessed to me, seeking to make right his relationship to God seemed hypocritical. He said that he had abandoned God years ago and now he needed Him. Wouldn't God laugh at his pathetic plea?

I told him immediately that although he might have abandoned God, God has never abandoned him. He had experienced "a poverty of spirit," recognizing that he needed God who was the source and strength of all his relationships and accomplishments. All he needed to do was open his heart to reconciliation, receive the Spirit; participate at Sunday Mass and pray.

He reconciled his life through the confession of his sins; this person who had not attended Sunday Mass now attended not only Sunday Mass, but daily Mass despite the pain he had to endure from the cancer. He prayed daily and he was so convinced of the importance of introducing the young to their faith that his prayer led him to share his wealth with the Catholic Parish School so that young students may come to know and celebrate Jesus Christ. The principal stated that he was an answer to prayer.

He, on the other hand, felt that God was answering his prayer. He saw God in everything that surrounded him. I had a saying which I shared with him "Listen to God's whispers."

Now with his new vision of God's presence, he realized God was not only whispering, but he heard God shouting at him -- recognizing God's presence in everyone and everything that surrounded him. He did have one regret and it was that it took him so long to open himself to God's presence in his life. He sounded much like the great St. Augustine, who after his conversion echoed the same sentiment when he lamented: "Late have I come to know you."

He made me promise that I would do everything I could as a priest to challenge people to know God because that is everything. When he surrendered his spirit to God, he was turning over the last material possession to the Lord that he knew loved him beyond his wildest imagining. He emptied His life for the love of Christ. He was truly rich.

Blessed are you who are poor for the kingdom of God is yours. In the Catholic Stewardship Appeal we have an opportunity to demonstrate our trust in God.

There is no doubt these are difficult economic times, but it is at these moments that we declare our relationship to Christ and His Church through our gift to the Catholic Stewardship Appeal.

Through the Appeal the future priests and deacons are educated and formed to serve the sacramental life of our community; lay ministers are prepared to serve our parishes in various, defined pastoral roles; Catholic Charities reaches out to the poor and neglected, mindful of Catholic social principles; our young are formed and educated through our Catholic Schools and religious education; and all of our parishes are assisted through various Archdiocesan Offices.

It is our dependency upon God that motivates us to dig deep into our resources so that we represent the blessings we have received from God as a means to declare the importance of God's relationship to our life and the lives of our brothers and sisters.

Through your gift you will be introducing brothers and sisters to the Lord in the ministries and services offered by those you support. You will be answers to prayers. Those gifts will build His Church.

For like St. Paul we preach a risen Christ whose life was ransomed for our sins and whose resurrection offers us a life, in His love forever.

You have my pledge as Archbishop to hear those prayers and together use your support to answer those prayers and build the Body of Christ and His Church.

See you at Mass. Oops! You are probably listening to this at Mass. Right now, I am so happy that you are there, blessed are you poor!