Daily Prayer & Reflection

As we begin our new school year, welcoming the new Class of 2030! as well as all returning students and their families, we share with you that our focus from the RISES acronym for our Franciscan charism is: STEWARDSHIP, the last letter in RISES.

We don’t hear the word steward very often in current language but, simply, it refers to one who works at helping keep someone’s business or household affairs in good order. Most likely, we all serve in that capacity in one way or another in life.

From a spiritual and more important perspective, you and I are called to be stewards in our own lives, developing our connection and relationship with our God.  For each of us, stewardship means nurturing our souls and taking care of all that we have been gifted with.  Our talents and gifts and all that has been provided for us in God’s most generous creation are meant to be used for good, for helping ourselves as well as others, to succeed as we deepen loving relationships with one another and with God.  It is a journey through life that is never fully complete.

The choices we make, the relationships we nurture, the selflessness we develop all contribute to each of us being a better person, enabling our world to be a better place for all.  That is not always an easy journey, of course, and we learn as grow as we move forward each day.

This is a great time of year: NEW BEGINNINGS all around us.  Perhaps we can all do a sort of personal inventory as to how our gifts, talents, and skills are being used today. Are we happy with what we’ve done so far? Do we really work at prayer and relationship with God? This doesn’t happen overnight, of course, and it takes commitment and intentional living to look for ways to steward ourselves each day. 

Our patrons, St. Francis and St. Clare, are great role models of meaningful stewardship. Look for a biography of either and you will see that that is where they found their joy and fulfillment in life.  Neither had an easy journey, to be sure, but that is what made them saints!  We can rely on them for support in our prayers as we go and ask for their wisdom in each day’s opportunities to be good stewards -- for ourselves and for others.

Many blessings to each of us as we move forward.