2026-09-05 - The moment we forget that we are stewards, we begin to act like owners Author: Fr. Camillus Nwaigwe
5th of September 2026
Saturday in the Twenty Second Week of Ordinary Time Year II
1Cor 4:6-15
Lk 6:1-5
Paul asks, "What do you have that you did not receive?" Everything we possess is ultimately received from God. Our life, talents, intelligence, opportunities, positions, possessions, relationships and even our vocation are gifts entrusted to us, not absolute possessions.
A steward understands, "This has been placed in my hands, but it does not belong ultimately to me." An owner, however, begins to say, consciously or unconsciously, "This is mine; I can do with it whatever I want." That is where pride, entitlement and abuse of power begin.
This can happen even in the Church. We can begin to treat positions as personal property, ministries as personal territories, authority as personal power, and people as though they belong to us. We forget that the Church belongs to Christ, the ministry belongs to Christ, and the people entrusted to our care belong to God.
The Gospel gives us another dimension. The Pharisees had received the Sabbath as a gift from God, but they had become so possessive of their interpretation of it that they could no longer recognize the mercy and purpose behind the law. They began to guard the gift while forgetting the Giver.
Friends, whatever God places in our hands is a trust, not a title to ownership. The question for every Christian is therefore not merely, "What do I have?" but, what has God entrusted to me? How am I using it?
Have I begun to treat God's gift as though it belongs exclusively to me? Am I serving with what I have received, or am I using it to control others?
The tragedy of stewardship is that the steward can eventually foret the Owner. We are only passing through the hands of God's gifts; therefore, we must never confuse possession with ownership.
Whatever comes from God is not given to us for boasting but for service. What we receive as grace, we must return as gratitude; what we receive as a gift, we must use as a blessing to others. At the end of everything, none of us can stand before God and say, "I made myself." Everything we have is received. Therefore, the proper response to God's gifts is not pride, but gratitude; not entitlement, but stewardship; not superiority, but service.
God bless you
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