Reflections on Stewardship: THE KINDNESS OF CHRIST IS IN OUR HANDS

One of the most beloved quotes attributed to St. Teresa of Avila begins with these beautiful words:

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

-St. Teresa of Avila

It is a quote that lands deeply for me whenever I read it. It is both poetic and practical. It reminds us of something essential: that faith isn’t just something we believe, it’s something we live.

During stewardship season, we often talk about the giving of time, talent, and treasure. But underneath all that churchy language is something much simpler and more powerful: kindness. The world is hungry for kindness. People are carrying grief we cannot see and burdens they have grown used to bearing alone. And so Christ comes - through you.

You may not think of small acts of kindness as holy work. But they are. The note you write to someone who has been unusually quiet lately. The casserole you drop off after a surgery has been performed. The way you hold the door open just a few seconds longer for someone moving more slowly. These are sacred things.

When I was a young priest, I visited a parishioner who was in hospice care. She could not speak much anymore and was unresponsive at the time of my visit. Her daughter looked exhausted and tearful, and said to me, “She’s been waiting for you.” I didn’t do anything extraordinary. I sat with them, held her hand, and we prayed quietly together. As I left, the daughter hugged me and said, “You were Christ to us today.” I have never forgotten that. I didn’t feel holy. I just showed up. I brought what I had, my time, my presence, my heart. Somehow, that was enough.

That is stewardship: the daily offering of our lives in ways that bring Christ’s compassion into the world. It’s giving, not just to support the church’s budget, but to keep alive the sacred mission we all share: to be Christ’s body in this world.

This stewardship season, I invite you to think about kindness. Not just grand gestures of kindness but the quiet ones. The ones that don’t make headlines but that soften hearts. Because when you choose to be patient, when you forgive, when you show up, Christ shows up, too. Yours are the hands, the feet, the eyes. You are his body. And the world needs him, through you, now more than ever.

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Questions about stewardship, how to pledge or making a planned gift? Contact Rose Gonzalez at roseg@cosepiscopal.org.