A blessed Sunday!

Archbishop Timothy Dolan here. Thanks for giving me a few minutes at Sunday Mass to talk about our Catholic Stewardship Appeal.

What I want to preach about is God's word, just proclaimed from the Bible.

Today, the Lord teaches us about humility. Zephaniah the prophet speaks of it; St. Paul writes about it; Jesus emphasizes it in the Beatitudes.

The humble person knows it's not about me. It's about God, His purposes, His plan, His glory, His people. The humble person realizes everything he or she has . . . is a gift from God.

Stewardship flows from humility, as we want to put God first, returning to Him what He's lavished upon us.

How? We give back to God through prayer and worship. That's why we're at Sunday Mass. We return to God through faithful, selfless lives, through sharing of time, and talent, and , yes, through giving of our resources to His Church and His people.

You do that weekly for your parish; you do that often for special charitable causes; and, each year I ask you to do that for the archdiocese through the Catholic Stewardship Appeal.

I've been asking you for the past five years, and you have consistently come through. Thank you! You did it again last year, over the goal, the highest ever, almost $8 million.

Here I am again, asking for more.

Jesus speaks of comforting, of mercy, of peace in today's beatitudes. The Church tries its best to make these beatitudes real. Your pledge helps us do that.

The work of the Church in Southeast Wisconsin to make those beatitudes real has got to go on.

All I can do is borrow some encouragement from Our Lord and Savior, and sincerely pray, "Blessed are you peacemakers; blessed are you poor in spirit; blessed are you who sacrifice; blessed are you who show mercy; blessed are you humble; blessed are you who follow stewardship as a way of life."

Thanks for what you've done. Please come through again for the 2008 Catholic Stewardship Appeal.

A blessed Lent!