Today, Saint Paul urges us to be stewards of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Stewardship is a word we are familiar with. It is a way of life rooted in the recognition that God is the source of every good gift we have received. We are called to receive those gifts with gratitude, cultivate them responsibly, share them generously and justly, and ultimately return them to the Lord.
We often think of stewardship through the lens of time, talent, and treasure. We recognize the blessings God has entrusted to us and seek to share those blessings with others through our service, our generosity, and our other works of mercy and charity.
But Saint Paul speaks of something more: the mysteries of God.
In the late second century, the Early Church Fathers began translating the Greek word mysterion, meaning “mystery,” into the Latin word sacramentum, meaning “sacrament.”
For the Latin Rite, we speak of the seven Sacraments. In many of the Eastern Rites, they are still called the Holy Mysteries. In the Byzantine tradition, for example, the Lord provided His Church with seven chief means of salvation—the Holy Mysteries.
Saint Paul tells us to be stewards of the mysteries of God. In doing so, he gives us a profound responsibility to be stewards of the Holy Sacraments.
If the Sacraments are truly the mysteries of God, then how we approach them matters. How we celebrate them matters. How we teach them matters. How we protect them matters.
The seven Sacraments derive their power and efficacy from the Paschal Mystery—the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Every sacramental celebration leads us back to Jesus Christ on the Cross. Every grace we receive through the Sacraments comes to us because Christ offered Himself completely for our salvation on the Cross.
The Sacraments are not merely religious ceremonies. They are true encounters with Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The more deeply we understand what Christ has done for us, the more deeply we will approach the Sacraments with gratitude. And the more grateful we become, the better stewards of these sacred mysteries we will be.
We must insist upon the proper matter and form of the Sacraments.
There is a reason the Church does not simply make up the Sacraments as we go along.
There is a reason we cannot substitute crackers and grape juice for the matter of the Eucharist. There is a reason we cannot baptize with coffee. There is a reason we cannot simply rewrite the words of Absolution. There is a reason we cannot add to, remove from, or alter the Mass according to our personal preferences. There is a reason the Church teaches what she teaches about Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.
These things are not arbitrary rules invented by “out of touch” men in Rome.
The Sacraments belong to Christ. They do not belong to us.
We are not their owners. We are their stewards.
A steward does not have the authority to take what has been entrusted and remake it according to personal preferences or the whims of the world. A steward's responsibility is to guard faithfully what belongs to the master.
That is precisely our responsibility with the Holy Sacraments.
The Sacraments are not ours to reinvent. They are Christ's gifts to His Church, and we have been entrusted with protecting their integrity.
We must approach the Sacraments with reverence, prayer, and awe.
The Sacraments are not empty rituals. They are not merely beautiful traditions handed down from previous generations.
They are sacred encounters with Jesus Christ.
Our external actions should reflect the reality of what we believe internally.
If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is present, then our behavior should proclaim that belief even when our lips are silent.
Reverence is not about putting on a show. It is about allowing our bodies, our minds, and our hearts to acknowledge what is actually happening.
Do not let the extraordinary become ordinary.
We come to Mass routinely. We hear the same prayers. We see the same rituals.
And because we experience these things so frequently, it is natural to become accustomed to them.
But at the same time, we must never become casual about them.
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. The Sacramental life is the very breath of the Church.
Through the Sacraments, God bridges the infinite and the finite. The God who created the universe stoops down to meet us in tangible, visible ways.
Nowhere else can we encounter Jesus Christ in the way we are privileged to through the Sacraments.
We must resist the temptation to treat it as ordinary.
Because when we lose our sense of awe, we risk losing our appreciation for the gift.
When you walk into a Catholic church, remember where you are—and remember Who you are with.
You are entering the house of God.
You are coming into the presence of Jesus Christ.
You are entering a place where the King of the Universe has chosen to remain with His people in the Blessed Sacrament.
The Sacraments are not about creating an experience that satisfies our personal preferences. They are about and true and authentic encounter with Jesus Christ.
The Mass is not something we attend merely because it is our obligation. Rather, it is our participation in the worship of heaven.
Saint Paul challenges us to more deeply understand the gifts we have been entrusted with, more faithfully guard them, more reverently celebrate therm, and more powerfully proclaim them.
Through the Sacraments, the salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Thanks be to God!
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