Good morning.

My name is Gina Lewis and I've been a member of Sacred Heart parish for about 7 years now. I've been asked to speak today on the stewardship of time, talent and treasure. I am a wife, a stay-at-home mother of three sons, one in high school, one in middle school and the third in preschool. I work out of my home as a bookkeeper, and provide all the office support necessary to maintain a construction company with my husband, John. It's important to me that you know my husband is not Catholic, but a beautiful Christian man whose faith far exceeds my own in many areas. However, the experiences I will be sharing with you occurred before he fully grew into his own faith.

Jesus teaches us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with our whole being. One of the greatest ways we can show God love and thank Him for all the blessings He has given us is to return to Him a portion of those gifts on a regular basis. Sharing my time and talent as member of the choir and a cantor has been a great joy for me. I pray that you will all know joy in sharing your talent with others. But today I will be sharing with you my faith journey in the matter of sacrificial giving.

Like so many of us who are born into the Catholic Church, I had always come to church on Sunday and dropped a dollar into the basket for as many times as it came around without giving the act any thought. I was familiar with the word "tithe" and the phrase "Give back to the Lord" only because my best friend in childhood was a Baptist, and I was involved in the Baptist Youth Group. But since I'd never heard a teaching on stewardship or tithing in my own church or CCD, I never considered that these concepts had a place in my own faith. That changed one Sunday morning about 11 years ago.

Try to imagine me near the end of Mass sitting with two small children. I was struggling to keep my 18-month old on my lap while he was determined to explore something fascinating under the pew. Beside me, my 3½ year old was asking yet again when we could go home. I think I was mid-sentence telling him we just had to wait for the final blessing when our priest stood up and announced that a guest speaker from another parish would be addressing us on the subject of sacrificial giving. Well, I'm pretty sure my eyes rolled as I sent up silent prayer. It was something like, "Please don't let this take too long. I can't keep these two under control much longer." Somehow, in spite of my bad attitude and fidgeting children, the words of this speaker reached me.

I returned home thinking about the concept of tithing, and being the academic sort, began researching the subject in the bible. I learned that to tithe means to give one tenth of the first fruits back to God. In today's context, that would be one tenth of our pay before taxes. I found lessons on tithing in both the Old and New Testament. And over and over again, I read that God promises both earthly and heavenly rewards when we return to Him a portion of his blessings with a joyful and thankful heart. I took to heart the parables of the talents and the sower and also Luke 6:38 which instructs, "Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you." By the time I returned to church the following week, I had decided to give sacrificial giving a try.

A true tithe at that time seemed unimaginable, but I thought I should do better than $1 or $2 dollars, so I promised God $5 per week. To put that $5 into perspective, you have to understand that 11 years ago, we were still reeling from the real estate crash of the early '90's. I was home with the children working part-time as a bookkeeper in my father's business in exchange for health insurance. John being in construction, had been unemployed twice. The condo we had purchased when we married was worth only 50% of its mortgage and seemed to get smaller every day. In order to make ends meet, I was shopping at 3 grocery stores, buying only the items on sale at each store. Each week we ate one meal at my parent's house and one at my in-law's house. My mother- in-law used to clip coupons for me because she knew we had no newspaper, and she would often show up with a package of diapers to help out. I consigned any clothing my children outgrew for cash, and dressed them in hand-me-downs from anyone and everyone. So you can see that $5 was no small matter at that time.

In the book of Sirach, which teaches a great deal about proper use of and attitude toward money, it says "concern for one's livelihood banishes slumber; more than a serious illness it disturbs repose." I could really relate to the sleepless nights and was desperate to know the kind of financial security I had known as a child in my father's house. I thought if I could just be faithful in this small matter, I would be rewarded.

So I began writing checks for $5/wk and somehow still got by. Whenever I was short money and couldn't see how we were going to pay all our bills, I'd pray. "God, I've got all these bills and only this much money coming in. I promised you this money so here it is, but I need help. I can't get the rest of this to add up, so You do the math." Every time I put my faith in the Lord, He came through. There would be a side job for John, or someone would ask me to watch their kids. Sometimes cash would show up in the mail from an elderly relative who was so pleased I'd thought to write and send photos of the kids.

As my faith grew our financial condition improved. Soon, I began saving with the same discipline that I was giving, so later that year when my brother- in-law approached John about starting their own construction company, we had enough money to make it happen. Things got better and better financially.

The following spring, I renewed my commitment to sacrificial giving for more money, and shortly thereafter received a large tax refund that replenished our savings. It also felt very empowering to realize that I could essentially redirect tax dollars into charities of my choosing.

I began to increase the money we gave to the church and other charities every few months, and found we were still able to save money towards the children's education, save money for future investments and still live comfortably. Better than that, we began to realize some of our dreams, like taking our children to Disney World.

About three years after I had committed to sacrificial giving, we put a down payment on our house here in Middleboro. Our family of 4 moved in with my parents so that we could rent out the condo at a loss of $150/month which was better than selling it at a loss of $30,000. This was the only way we could qualify for a construction loan and mortgage. At this point, we had been truly tithing for a while.

It was Lent, and early in the Lenten season, I thought I would give an extra $300 as an Easter offering. But when it came time to write the check, I added up the numbers and came up between $500 and $600 short.

An appraisal fee, mortgage application fee and repainting the condo had done a number on the checkbook balance. I knew that every last penny of our savings was needed in order to close on the new house. It crossed my mind to postpone the extra donation, but I ended up praying. "This is what I promised You in my heart, Lord. I have to write this check, but I'm going to need a miracle to get these numbers to add up. You do the math." So I finished writing out as many checks as I could, leaving the mortgage unpaid. Not exactly the payment you want to miss when you're trying to get another mortgage. I was just finishing up and still at the desk when my husband walked in with a big grin on his face in the middle of the workday. He said, "Guess what, Babe? I hit a scratch ticket for $1000 bucks! Here's $900." I grinned from the inside out and thought, "Wow! That was fast! Thanks, God!" I really love God's math. It was clear that John had that money in his hands before I ever asked for help. God was showing me that he truly knows my every need even before I do, and He will always provide.

Three years earlier I had been desperate to know the kind of security I'd known as a child in my father's house. I wanted to be confident that no matter what, my every need would be met. It struck me as I put all my experiences into words that I was, at that point, living in my father's house again; but it hadn't occurred to me to ask him for help. Instead, through tithes and offerings, I had learned to turn to my Heavenly Father for all my needs.

Now I live secure in the knowledge that no matter where I am, I will always be a child in my Father's house. I have a new understanding of Psalm 23, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forevermore."

I'd like to challenge you, those who have never contemplated their offerings, to give sacrificial giving a try. It's okay to test God in this, He even says so in Malachi 3:10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts: Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessing upon you without measure?"