Author Archives: Tracy Earl Welliver

About Tracy Earl Welliver

Tracy Earl Welliver is the Director of Parish Community and Engagement for LPi and an active member of Saint Pius X Catholic Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he previously served as Pastoral Associate for 22 years. Saint Pius X received the Archbishop Murphy Award in 2009 from the ICSC. Tracy is a writer, speaker, and teacher in the areas of stewardship, engagement, catechesis, and strengths theory, and has worked with Catholic communities throughout the US, Australia, and New Zealand. You can read Tracy’s Everyday Stewardship column in LPi’s CONNECT!, a bimonthly lectionary-based liturgy preparation publication. His writing can also be read on his Nutshell Blog, The Main Thing Blog, and in contributions to Catholic TechTalk. He also serves on the faculty for the ICSC Stewardship Institutes. Tracy has theology degrees from DeSales University and Duke Divinity School. He has been married 23 years and he and his wife, Mariann, have 3 children.

Stewardship of Mercy

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An Everyday Stewardship Reflection for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2017

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The Jubilee Year of Mercy is now in the history books and looking back I wonder if I have been changed at all by the observance. Certainly the focus on mercy wasn’t all about God’s mercy toward me? Yes, I focused on my sin and the need for God’s forgiveness and grace, but hopefully that changed how I live my life and how I offer mercy to others.

The mercy we receive from God is not something we are to keep bottled up or hidden from others. Jesus taught us to treat others the way we would like to be treated and to love everyone, even our enemies. When Jesus healed the Canaanite woman I wonder what she did next. I would hope she in turn offered mercy and healing to others. Of course, I know she was imperfect just like me so I am sure in no time she was back to needing the mercy of Jesus. Her demon was gone, but there is always a new evil around every corner.

However, the fact that we are a broken people always in need of mercy does not lessen the command for us to offer mercy. Mercy is a gift like so many others that God lavishes on us with great generosity. We are called to cultivate this and share it with others as well. If we cannot do that then what was the real effect of God’s mercy in our lives? If we do not allow God to change us into more generous stewards ready to offer mercy and love to all, then perhaps we are fooling ourselves that we are true disciples of Jesus at all.

 

The Graciousness of Mary

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An Everyday Stewardship Reflection for the Feast of the Assumption 2017

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An everyday steward is called to be gracious. I read once that to be a gracious person meant to walk softly, speak with intent, and to leave those you have met feeling that their lives were better that day because they encountered you. What a way to live!

But alas, living like that each and every day is so very hard. I hate to think that some times people I have encountered are happy to see me go, but I know that it is true. As Christians we are graced people, but on some days, that grace can seem pretty hidden.

If you are looking for an example of gracious living look no further than Our Lady. She answered the call regardless of the cost and she lived her life with a great dignity in the face of horrible trials. She was a gracious host to the Incarnation in her womb and she continues to invite us to get to know her son better. She certainly embodies the definition of gracious living above.

We are called to always be ready and open to the call of her son. He will bring us to those in need, seeking light in a world of darkness. Our hope must be then that after our encounter with another, they will feel enriched by our presence. Of course, we will know, like Our Lady knew before us, that it wasn’t about us at all. It was about the Jesus in us meeting the Jesus in them.