Stewardship of Time, Talent and Treasure

We hear this phrase often. What does this mean?
 
Our time—perhaps the most obvious way to satisfy this obligation is to attend weekly Mass;
 
Our talent—giving of our abilities in the service of others.  All of us have been blessed with various talents, whether we are aware of it or not, or whether we have developed our talents or not. Of course, it is usually not possible to develop all of our talents. But, ideally, we can and should develop some of them and use them wisely to bless the communities we belong to; 
 
Our treasure—the benefits of a certain percentage of our annual income, given to our church and to others in gratitude for what has been given to us.  What is most important is to become an ‘intentional giver’—as opposed to a ‘loose change giver.’  An intentional giver is one who has the willing diligence to ‘do the math,’ that is, to look at his/her annual income and then prayerfully and intentionally decide what percentage should be set aside for the support of the Church and for charity.
 
Stewardship involves all of life – body, mind and spirit, our material possessions, friendships, etc.  All we are and have is a gift from our Creator for us to use wisely to build up God’s kingdom here on earth.

We continue to be careful stewards of the generosity of those who came before us and who built the beautiful Basilica now entrusted to us, the center of our spiritual life and the location of our liturgies and other parish ceremonies. Here, we are now repairing the stonework outside the west transept supporting the stained glass windows which tell the stories of our religious heritage.