Offertory - a stewardship reflection

by Duane J. Koble

Remember the predicament of the little drummer boy? "I have no gift to bring," he worried, "that’s fit to give a king!" Sunday after Sunday that’s true of us, too.

When the gifts are brought forward in the offertory procession, the presider says softly, "blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer which earth has given and human hands have made." Then, over the wine, he says again, "Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness, we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands." "Through your goodness" we have these gifts…By ourselves; we have nothing at all to offer! Even these simple gifts of bread and wine are first of all God’s gift to us.

God has provided everything-the mystery of life hidden in the seeds, the sun and rain and soil, even the skills of the farmer who plants and harvests, the miller who grinds the grain into flour, and the baker who shapes the dough into loaves! God’s too is the secret in the wine that produces the grape and the expertise of the vintner who crushes the crop into wine. These are the gifts — which we bring forward to be transformed at the consecration.

We are like little children who must ask their parents for the money to buy those same parents a birthday present. And God, like good parents everywhere, is pleased when we use God’s gifts to prepare a gift for God! Understanding that everything is God’s and that God is pleased when these divine children bring as offering the very gifts God has given them, is the heart of stewardship. And God cannot be outdone in generosity! At every Mass, God accepts our simple gifts and returns them to us as Eucharist — God’s living presence among us. We are good stewards of God’s gifts whenever we offer ourselves to the Lord. And we soon discover that whatever we offer to God in gratitude, God blesses and returns with increase.

Duane J. Koble is Director of Finance for the Diocese of New Ulm.