Ways to Give
When it comes to the financial support of our church family, the biblical ideal is a tithe—or 10%—of one’s income.
Our Catholic Church leaders suggest giving 5% to church and 5% to charity.
Most Catholics who tithe reach this ideal gradually. In this area of stewardship, one of the most important steps to consider is to become an ‘intentional giver’—as opposed to a ‘loose change giver.’ An intentional giver is one who has the willing diligence to ‘do the math,’ that is, to look at his/her annual income and then prayerfully and intentionally decide what percentage should be set aside for the support of the church and for charity.
Time
Time is a very precious gift. Most of us feel we don’t have enough time for all the things we want to do. Everyone is given the same amount of time: 24 hours each day, 168 hours each week. The question is: How do we choose to use our time? Henry David Thoreau once said: “It is not enough to be busy, so are ants. The question is what are we busy about?” To give your time, check out the “Get Involved” tab. Sometimes, all we need is someone who can help direct traffic during religious education!
Talent
All of us have been blessed with various talents, whether we are aware of it or not, or whether we have developed our talents or not. Of course, it is usually not possible to develop all of our talents. But, ideally, we can and should develop some of them and use them wisely to bless the communities we belong to.To find out ways you can share your Time and Talent with your church family, contact our associate pastor at cdeleon@sjwest.org.
Treasure
There are over 2,300 verses in the Bible about money, possessions and the right use of them. Why is this? Perhaps because God knows our propensity to misuse money or allow it to distract us from keeping our eyes on him. We count on the support of our parishioners to keep our faith formation active and our church facilities safe and up to date. Please consider taking the next step and giving a bit more.
Five reasons to be serious and generous with our financial resources
1. God expects us to be generous even if our financial resources are not much. Remember how Jesus praised the poor widow for her generosity to the Temple (Mark 12:41-44)?
2. We could have been born in a slum, begging for food every day. Reflection on this blessing of our birth should motivate us to be generous with our material blessings.
3. Consistent financial giving is the best medicine for our greedy tendencies.
4. Generous financial giving helps to make us a little more like our good and generous God.
5. It feels good to experience the joy of giving.