S S S

Stewardship, Simplicity, and Sharing. The only lifestyle that leads to God. Today’s parable about the rich man Dives and the poor man Lazarus says it all (Lk. 16: 19-31). Had Dives learned to live the lifestyle of SSS, he would have ended with Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham.

Do we want to end up in God’s bosom, or do we want to end up in the nether world? What a stupid question. But many of us can be highly intelligent and morally stupid.

In God’s own providence, the lifestyle of SSS is such that one step leads to the other. Stewardship leads to simplicity, and simplicity leads to sharing. Let us describe each one in operational terms.

Stewardship. This means accepting the fundamental truth that God is our Creator and Lord, and so everything that we are and everything we have are not really ours but God’s. "The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness: The world and those who dwell in it." (Ps. 24:1). Our lives, talents, and resources – these have been entrusted to us, not to be used arbitrarily or merely for our own vested interests, but according to God’s designs, which are expressed in this one, fundamental principle: Love + Justice = Peace. We are simply God’s stewards and caretakers of His creation. Our Pilipino translation of this is deeply meaningful. "Tagapag-alaga." The stewardship-meaning of "alaga" involves deep compassion, responsible caring, and dedicated service. Toward our families, our community, our country. Patriotism is an intrinsic part of our being God’s stewards. As St. Paul says: "Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy." (1 Cor. 4: 1-2).

Simplicity. This means simple living. It follows that with a profound attitude of being stewards, caretakers of the Lord, we will be inevitably led to a more simple lifestyle. As we focus more on the Lord and the neighbor, we will gradually learn to focus less on ourselves. In this regard, we must be acutely aware and ruthlessly honest about the insiduous manipulations of a Godless, materialistic, McWorld culture, from the never-ending consumer products in the malls all the way to the giant billboards of half-naked men and women that glut our highways.

Intellectual honesty is needed here – where luxuries remain as luxuries, and necessities are properly provided for, as the Lord of nature would have it. The quantity and quality of food, clothing, shelter, and other human facilities, including energy, should become the objects of critical discernment. Healthy food need not be the best food, decent clothing need not be the expensive ones, a decent home need not be the envy of the neighbors, and energy conservation can become second nature to us all. Creative deprivation leads us to an inner growth of the spirit, which in turn moves us to reach out. Reaching in leads to reaching out.

Sharing. Simple living leads to greater sharing. If our needs and tastes are more simple, then there will be more of ourselves and what we have that we can share with others, be it our time, talents, resources, our very lives. This leads us to the very core of Christianity – a life of sharing. And today, God knows how much we need this kind of sharing in our country, and not the unjust, un-Godly, inequitable distribution of God’s resources because of man’s doing.

There are three ways by which we can operationalize this sharing outside of our immediate families. The first is through corporal works of mercy, like direct help given to the poor, or operating feeding and medical centers, and other similar projects. A second way is the self-help approach, like creating jobs for others, helping in developing and marketing the products of the poor, helping to develop poor communities in a total, wholistic way, scholarship and education programs, and so on. And the third way is direct work for justice, like advocacy work for the poor and the victims of social injustice, support for just strikes of poor workers, forms of active non-violence in bringing about the moral transformation of societal structures and institutions that are clearly unjust and oppressive.

Over and above all this is the sharing of our love, compassion, our faith and spiritual blessings. Only in this way can our nation become truly Christian.