In Philippians 1: 18-26, Paul is talking about the spirit of stewardship brought to perfection: “All that matters is that… Christ is being proclaimed.” As stewards of the kingship of Christ, we detach our hearts from all we have and are: our possessions, skills, talents, and energies; our health and time on this earth; even our deepest relationships. In response to Jesus’ invitation to “sell all” and to “lose our lives to find them,” we give everything we have to God and spend the rest of our lives managing it all as his property. We make the prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola, from the Spiritual Exercises, our own: 

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will—all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. All is yours. Dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me your love and your grace. That is enough for me. 

Henceforth we have only the one desire Paul expressed: that “Christ will be exalted through me, whether I live or die.” For us, as for Paul, “living is Christ and dying is gain… it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) 

 This is stewardship nourished by a vivid and real anticipation of the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.”  

I firmly trust and anticipate that I shall never be put to shame for my hopes. I have full confidence now that Christ will be exalted through me. 

This is what Paul lived for. It was his motivation and his passion: “My soul is thirsting for the living God.” 

In Luke 14: 1-11, as elsewhere, Jesus speaks of heaven as a wedding banquet (See Matthew 22:2; 25:10; Luke 12:36; 14:8) at which “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” As stewards of his kingship, we don’t desire or expect honor on this earth or focus on having it in heaven. All we desire is that “the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in us….”  

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received…, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. (See 2Thessalonians 1:12; 1Peter 4: 10-11.) 

This is abandonment of all, motivated by anticipation of the All. It is the essence of stewardship. “My soul is thirsting for the living God.” 

The Responsorial describes the culmination of growth in grace: we live and long purely for God. We are focused on the “end time” and the “wedding banquet of the Lamb.”  

Prayer Prompt: Can I abandon everything in anticipation? Meditate on, “My soul is thirsting for the living God.” 

 — Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #484, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.