Leisa Anslinger

In one Spirit

Do you ever look around on Sunday and wonder at the amazing diversity among we who are in one Spirit in Christ? I speak not only of ethnic diversity but also of diversity in age, life experience, faith development, devotional practice, and participation in ministry — such a rich sign of the wonder of God! We are brought together through the Spirit, baptized into the one Body of Christ; as each of us is created in God's image and likeness, our participation together signifies much. I think that might be some of what our bishops meant when they wrote the following in their pastoral letter on evangelization, Go and Make Disciples:

Unless people know the grandeur for which they are made, they cannot reach fulfillment and their lives will be incomplete. Nor will they know that they are called into interpersonal union with God and with each other. (31)

This interpersonal union with God and with each other in one Spirit is not something that most people recognize early along on their journey of faith. It is something we grow into, and it is a reality that we who are pastoral ministers must foster carefully and with intention.

Forming the community

As I speak with people about stewardship, I often quote the introduction to Stewardship: A Disciple's Response, which includes these words:

Although religious faith is a strong force in the lives of many Americans, our country's dominant secular culture often contradicts the values of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. This is a culture in which destructive "isms" " materialism, relativism, hedonism, individualism, consumerism " exercise seductive, powerful influences. There is a strong tendency to privatize faith, to push it to the margins of society, confining it to people's hearts or, at best, their homes, while excluding it from the marketplace of ideas where social policy is formed and men and women acquire their view of life and its meaning.

These two quotations from the bishops are intimately related, and forming the community to live as both disciples and stewards is key. When we form people to actively cultivate within themselves a spirituality that is open to union with God and with others and to give freely of their talents, their time, and their material resources, our communities become a strong force in people's lives, helping them to mediate those destructive "isms" and to instead live with deep meaning in one Spirit.

Formed through life within the community

Stewardship is contagious. A few years ago, Barb was concerned by the number of families who went through crisis alone with no apparent support from our parish, especially the crisis of the death of a child, a miscarriage, or a multiple birth. She found out about Elizabeth Ministry and came forward asking to begin this special outreach within our parish. Given the assent to begin, Barb talked with friends, who spoke with others, and in just a few weeks, the ranks of the ministry began to fill; people heard about it and began sharing their stories, inspired and ready to offer their gifts to alleviate such anxiety for others in any way possible. The lives of those giving and those receiving have been enriched. Such is the steward's way.

Forming pastoral practice

Most parishes begin to foster stewardship out of financial need. The pastor, a staff member, or the pastoral council study what has helped other parishes to relieve debt, care for facilities, offer ministry within the parish, give generously in outreach and mission, and foster faithful living among members. Inevitably the research surfaces the transformation that stewardship brings about. It is a way of life that requires people (and their parishes) to learn to trust in God above all, facing the truth that there is no security in material wealth, that all we are and have and will be comes from God. This recognition changes the way people live out their lives, and even in the face of the insecurities of life, they learn to give in lavish imitation of our always generous and giving God. Even more, as people learn to trust, they find great joy in the actions that result from this union of hearts and minds with that of God. They find their living discipleship calling them together, transcending the lure of the surrounding culture, living as Paul enjoined the people of Corinth:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Cor 12:12-13)

ML

Leisa Anslinger is pastoral associate for faith formation at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Cincinnati. Author of  Here Comes Everybody! Whole Community Catechesis in the Parish, she is a national speaker on topics including whole-community catechesis and pastoral leadership.

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