Hi! My name is Kelly Bowman. Father Jack asked my husband, Ralph, and I to speak together, but we didn't realize it was the same weekend we were scheduled to be chaperone's for the Sr High Youth Convention, so we have divided our presence this weekend.

When we talk about Stewardship, we are talking about Time, Talent, and Treasure. We usually first think of treasure, it is the easiest to identify and quantify. "I gave X amount every week this year." In recent years though, giving of treasure has not been as easy for many of us. It requires more prayerful reflection, discussion and sacrifice. It also has meant truly trusting that God will meet our needs, believing in the prayer we all say, "Give us this day our daily bread…"

As important as treasure is, there is far more to stewardship. Time and Talent are just as important and sometimes more difficult to discern. One of our challenges in our journey is recognizing when God is speaking to us. Another challenge is finding our inner strengths, our passions, and answering God's call to live through them. When we are able to do that, God will lead us to amazing places.

My own journey has led me to places I have not expected to be. I would never have pictured myself as a nurse, and certainly not working in a hospital, yet I am doing both.

My Time and Talent stewardship journey has surprised me as well. Three years ago, our oldest daughter started college and changed religions. As Ralph and I tried to understand why, as we were looking for where we had gone wrong, we began to realize more. We came to Mass almost every Sunday as a family. We lived our faith in our home and with our friends. But we rarely talked about the whys behind our faith and beliefs and we had lost some of the community aspect of our faith by not being actively involved in the St Andrew community. As we began to accept our daughter's decision and the true meaning of free will and unconditional love, we were drawn closer to the Church and to God. Prayers turned into actions and I decided to volunteer with RCIA, to share my faith and the whys behind it, with others. Ralph began to help with the Jr High Youth Group. After the first year, Father Jack asked Ralph to lead the Jr High Group when that role was needed. Father Jack told me that he was glad to hear I was going to help him (I hadn't heard about that yet, but Father Jack was encouraging, a comment about working together being good for our marriage bond!).

I am now helping with RCIA, Jr High Youth Group, and working on starting a Health Ministry. There are so many ways to share Time and Talents here at St Andrew - Youth Programs, RCIA, Health Ministry, soon to be a Prayer Shawl Ministry, Children's Faith Formation, Knight's of Columbus, St Vincent de Paul, the Food Bank, Adult Faith Formation, Altar Society, Men's Club, Liturgical Ministers, Projects Rachel and Gabriel, and many more. There is truly something for everyone and every talent, no matter how seemingly small.

The key is finding our best talents (passions) and then a way to share them with others. At an interview this past week with my daughter, Emily, at Loyola Marymount University, a dance professor was talking about the Jesuit tradition of service for others. She told Emily a story about a student in her class who is an athlete taking her class for a core requirement. He had shared with her that simply watching her teach dance, witnessing her love of dance, always makes him smile. The professor then talked about how service for others can be as simple as making someone smile when it helps them with their day, their troubles, their life. Making someone smile is one way for us to share Christ's love for us with others.

Christ's commandments to us are "simple". To love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love each other. The hard part is determining how we can best do that in all aspects of our lives. I ask everyone to prayerfully reflect on what your individual and unique talents are and how we can each use our talents to serve Christ through service for others.

In the words of Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love".

Thank you and God Bless