Stewards of God's Varied Grace

As alumni of Mount St. Scholastica College and Benedictine College join us for mass this weekend, and as I contemplate the death of Sr. Mary Owen Leutloff at the age of 100 years, I’m aware of our responsibility to be good caretakers of our Benedictine heritage. The members of the Mount who preceded us made a lot of sacrifices to build this community; our stewardship honors their work and dreams by safeguarding the legacy they left us.

It is interesting that Peter writes to the early church, “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” The giftedness of each person is especially noticeable in a monastic community as everyone serves in her own indispensable way, whether it is in the garden, the kitchen, the business office, or in our ministries.

In general, the people who are happiest seem to be those who are content with their own particular blessings and make good use of them rather than focusing on their limitations. We may not have a choice in how we are gifted, but we can always choose to be good stewards of the grace that has been bestowed on us by serving one another. We also can seek to be faithful in living out the values that St. Benedict delineated in his rule: listening, mutual obedience, stability, daily prayer, seeing Christ in others, humility, moderation, and care of children, the sick, and elders. Doing so is a great gift to the world and an ideal way of being a good steward of God’s varied grace.