I had the opportunity to attend a Youth Ministries Retreat at the end of October. It was inspiring and full of all kinds of good stuff. It will take time to wade through all the information, however, I did quickly order a book called “Every Moment Holy” Volume 1. Laughing and sighing as we read the titles of the prayers and liturgies, this book would come in handy. The holy moments range from the Changing of Diapers to the Enjoyment of Bonfires, Waiting in Line, and the Anniversary of a Loss.
As I read the book, the liturgy on Giving leaped out at me. It happened to coincide with a recent trip to the shoe store. What did I really need? What did I have at home in my closet already? I had the money but was this the priority? But they were cute. I needed one pair but wanted three. I left feeling sad. I know, sad over shoes! Please know that I am not judging you for your shoe buying habits or purchasing decisions, this is my own struggle with worldly possessions. Today, it was shoes. Tomorrow, it might be new pillows for the couch.
I try to live my life generously. I know first-hand the freedom and peace that it can bring. So, why do I struggle in these moments?
My prayer is that the following words will live in my heart as a reminder that my treasures and hopes are in Jesus alone.
“Every Moment Holy” A Liturgy for Giving:
In truth, I have nothing but you, O Christ, nothing that I might call my own.
So let that good confession now compel a better stewardship.
First teach me to treasure you, Jesus, above all things. Then let that increasing devotion be increasingly demonstrated in a joyful generosity for to give is to live out the declaration that you alone supply. I need not fear what comes tomorrow.
When I give to meet the need of others, when I give to the work of those who serve the poor, the sick, the oppressed, when I give to the service of your Body and your Kingdom, I give not what is mine but only what is already yours. With every charitable act, I am simply practicing the fact that nothing which passes through my hands has ever belonged to me.
You are my generous master. Make me your faithful trustee, teaching me to live as a wiser conduit of this liberal grace, learning to hold loosely the things of this world, never hoarding that which is yours, never seeking the mean preservation of my own comforts. Rather let me love well in my giving, even as you, O Father, have loved me so well by giving me all things in Christ.
Let me make each offering without thought of temporal gain. Let me give precisely because I have believed your promises are true- and let my giving be the proof. If you are my shepherd, then I am freed to live generously, knowing that any seeming deprivation is but the work of your Spirit weaning me from a world of things and winning me to greater dependence on Christ the King.
So why would I grasp at that which I cannot keep? This body will sleep in death and what I now hold so briefly will pass into the keeping of another. I own nothing here. I have no claim. Dispel the myth of my possessions, lest they taint that better hope of Heaven.
Rather let me learn, while I draw breath, to live with open hands and a joy-filled heart, investing in your resources in your good works. Let me plant these mortal seeds in expectation of immortal harvests…
All that I have is yours, Lord Christ, All that I have is you.
In Christ’s love,
Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation