Dear Friends of Saint Michael Parish, 

While writing this, I’m attending an international conference on stewardship with presenters and participants from our archdiocese and from throughout the Catholic community; from Cardinals and archbishops to parish staff and lay leaders 

In the middle of all of this, I happened to run into a permanent deacon from Saint Michael Parish in Gainesville, Georgia. About twenty years ago, he played an important role in my discernment. Back then, I was still spending a lot of my time kayak racing…when Deacon Ken and his wife invited me to join a weekly Bible study with some friends. Although it meant giving up one evening that I otherwise would have spent doing something else, I said yes. He actually witnessed one of my first real steps toward making more room in my life for faith. That yes eventually led to giving up some weekend time to serve as a lector. Then I became a confirmation catechist for our teens. From there, I began leading a young adult group and eventually found myself spending more time in Eucharistic adoration. 

Looking back, none of these choices seemed particularly dramatic at the time. One thing simply led to the next opportunity to serve, pray, and grow. Considering that the Feast of our patron Saint Michael, along with Saints Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels, is upon us…this gives us a chance to ask how God may be inviting us to respond to his love? 

As I am relearning, stewardship begins with an intentional decision to place God first in our lives through many ways and means. It can involve our financial resources, but it also includes how we choose to spend our time and what we choose to make room for in our lives. Maybe it means making Sunday Mass a greater priority and allowing Eucharist adoration or devotional prayer to become a central to our week. For others, it could be much simpler; such as sitting with someone who is struggling, listening to a friend who needs to be heard, visiting someone who is lonely, or making yourself available to another person who needs a little encouragement. 

Lastly another optional form of stewardship in homage to our patron Saint Michael the Archangel comes with our parish family pilgrimage this spring. Wherever we find ourselves, we do well to realize that God will delight in whatever we are willing to offer. I certainly didn’t know where that first Bible study would lead. I was simply saying yes to an invitation from a couple who cared enough to make an invitation. That small decision eventually opened the door to many others. Perhaps God is not asking us to figure everything out or to give everything all at once, but simply to be attentive to the next invitation. 

May Saint Michael, along with Saints Gabriel, and Raphael pray for us and help us recognize the next invitation when it comes. And may our willingness to say yes through prayer, service, generosity, or simply making time for another person, draw us a little closer to God and to one another.

Fr. John-Patrick