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Sinners Drew Near

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We have all heard the story from today’s Gospel. Of course God wants to go after the one out of the ninety-nine. We have all heard that Christ is the Good Shepherd. But I want to focus on something in this Gospel that may be easily overlooked, the very first line.

We hear that the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus. Why was this, do we think? What drew them to Jesus? Was it his preaching, his miracles, the way he presented himself? It could have been a mix of any number of reasons, but I think it may have been that they could see he was different. He actually wanted to help them. He cared deeply about them.

Notice, they didn’t gather around him to be validated in their own sins, but even when Christ challenged them they continued to come back. They could see that he had their actual best interest at heart.

I think this example of evangelization is crucial for our world today. We tend to either dumb down the Gospel so much that it no longer has meaning or we want to hit people with it as if it’s a two by four with rusty nails sticking out.

Here, Jesus shows us the approach that is effective and gets to the heart of those we interact with. It’s the same as the story of the woman caught in adultery. He cared for her, loved her, showed her mercy, but then said to go and sin no more. That must have seemed like a simple and small request for the woman, seeing as her life was just spared.

Do we use the same approach when preaching the good news? Is it first good news? Do we find out about our friends, family, coworkers, and others before we try to evangelize? Classics are classics for a reason. And the classic way of evangelizing that Jesus used, seems like it may just still work. From all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is the Founder/Director of Rodzinka Ministry and the Director of Faith Formation for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith. Contact Tommy at tommy@rodzinkaministry.com or check out his website at rodzinkaministry.com.

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Remember Your Death

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I have been hearing from a lot of people lately that they hope the second coming is soon because things are a mess right now. We hear cries of division, political unrest, and much more. But the reality is, Jesus has not come yet, he still has work for us to do.

This is what I received from the first reading today. Especially with today being Halloween and tomorrow being All Saints Day, followed by All Souls Day, it’s natural to think about death. Paul even exclaims that death is gain, because we enjoy the beatific vision. But guess what? We aren’t there yet. There is much to do.

Paul says that him remaining in the flesh is more necessary for our benefit, and the same is true for us regarding our family and friends. God has put us in this place of time and history for a reason. So what have we done with our time here? This is a good reminder for us all. If we are to remember our death right now and think about that day, will we be told, “Well done my good and faithful servant?” Or will we be taken by surprise?

There is such great hope in the Lord and until God takes me home, I want to do all I can to bring others to him. I am not always perfect, but striving is the important thing. Let’s all strive for that today and every day. Happy Halloween and from all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is the Founder/Director of Rodzinka Ministry and the Director of Faith Formation for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith. Contact Tommy at tommy@rodzinkaministry.com or check out his website at rodzinkaministry.com.

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Relationship over Regulations

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I love today and the Gospel for a few reasons. To start, today Nathalie and I celebrate our two year anniversary. I am so blessed by her in new ways every single day and she has truly shown me the love of Christ through our still young but full marriage. It is also the Feast of Fatima, which has always been close to both of our hearts. We got engaged on May 13th and married on October 13th. And finally, I love the Gospel today because it’s about food.

If we know one thing about Jesus in the Gospel’s, it’s that he loves to eat, a man after my own heart. Here we see Jesus again correcting the Pharisees for following the letter of the law and forgetting that the whole point is the disposition of the heart and relationship with God.

I like to think of this in terms of the difference between someone who follows a recipe exactly and someone who is willing to improvise. Following a recipe is not bad, you will turn up with a pretty good dish, but the heart and soul will be missing. In the same way, just following the law for the sake of the law removes the heart and soul behind it.

Someone who is used to cooking is freed up to improvise, to change flavors, to go bold, and to not be stuck in a certain box. The end result can either be much worse or much better, but at least there is heart. It reminds me of a quote I heard once in reference to when Jesus walked on the water. The quote was: “It is better to get out of the boat and sink then to not get out at all.” Now, it is still bad to get out and sink, but at least that means we are trying and starting to trust in the Lord with that initial step out of the boat.

Jesus presents this idea in the Gospel today. You can wash your hands out of symbolism all you want, but you are too afraid to trust and get to the heart of the issue, relationship with God. How many times is this us? Especially today where it’s so easy to just pull up the Mass online instead of going in person. I realize some are still worried about health concerns, and that is legitimate. If that is you, take advantage of the live-streamed Mass. But have you been out on vacation, parties, dinners with friends, etc? If you have and you still aren’t returning to Jesus in person, I wonder if we have put the law over relationship. This can apply to anything in our lives, not just the Mass. Where have we put laws over the love of Christ? From all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is the Founder/Director of Rodzinka Ministry and the Director of Faith Formation for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith. Contact Tommy at tommy@rodzinkaministry.com or check out his website at rodzinkaministry.com.

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What is Your Opinion?

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The Gospel for today basically describes 2,000 years of moral teaching with one simple question, “What is your opinion?” Jesus asks this to the chief priests and elders and gives them a scenario of morality.

Now remember, Jesus knows everything. He knows their hearts, he knows that they have begun to go against the teachings of faith and instead have become hypocrites, and he knows that they have been created with a deep sense of morality coming from God himself.

So even though they are not following the law, Jesus is confident that deep down they know what it is and what they should be doing. He is so confident that he asked them what they believed was right and what was wrong in this scenario. “What is your opinion?”

This is hugely important for bringing a sense of morality into our fallen world today. We all know that our culture right now is not the reasoned and deductive culture that maybe an Aquinas or Augustine grew up in. We are living in a world that is more and more focusing on personal experience and feeling than on objective truth.

But what if we could get people to see the truths of the faith, of morality, and of God, from their own personal experience and feelings? That is to say, what if we could bring people to the same objective truth of God, by way of their personal experience?

Sound like a tall order? Sound like it could easily turn into relativism where whatever we feel or think becomes fact? And yet, Jesus does just this in today’s Gospel. He doesn’t use proofs or logic. He doesn’t come in with an “if this then that” scenario. He appeals to their hearts. “What do you think?” He knows that if we think deep enough, then the truths we were all created with are still shining somewhere deep inside us, even if we aren’t willing to admit it or even live by them.

In this way, Jesus helped them to realize the objective truth of morality through their own thoughts and feelings. If we believe God has created us as good and that he has inscribed laws deep into our hearts, then we must believe that people are still capable of remembering these truths.

So when we talk to people about what we believe as Catholics or what is right and wrong, let’s try hearing of others personal experiences and try to get them to see from those experiences the deeper and objective truths of God and the faith. Then what tends to happen is that people can see morality as welling up from deep inside, instead of being mandates imposed on us from the outside. The objective truths of God are in there, we just have to help coax them out. From all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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An Old Fish Tale

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This Gospel today is pretty familiar to most of us, especially if you have watched the phenomenal series, Chosen. But today I want to focus on an aspect of the story that maybe we don’t think about, and that is the fish themselves.

What was going through their mind during this whole ordeal? Here they are having a great morning and evading capture from the evil fishermen above, and all of a sudden they are caught. As they are pulled in they must have a thousand thoughts swimming through their heads. Knowing they have seen their friends go in this way and never return. Anxious as they are pulled from the water and wondering what is next for them. And then they see him, Jesus, standing there with a smile as the crowds are astonished. If I were a fish and I had the ability to understand what was going on, I hope I would be elated that Jesus picked me to help others come to know him.

What kind of fish are you? What kind of fish am I? Are we the fish that would grumble the whole time about the inconvenience of being part of God’s plan? Would we tell our other fish friends that we don’t want this to happen or that we don’t care who Jesus is. Would we even try to denounce that we know him altogether? Or would we be excited that God is using us to bring his love, light, mercy and peace into the world. Jesus asked the disciples to be fishers of men. Are we ready to take on that call, or are we just going to float through life and hope never to get caught in the plan God has for us? It’s an important question and I pray today that we all receive the grace to give a good answer when God asks it of us. From all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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Divine Power

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I love the snark coming from Jesus in the Gospel today. First off, we see Nathanael doubting that anything good could possibly come from Nazareth. You can almost feel the uppity attitude through the text. Jesus, knowing what Nathanael was already thinking, went and told him things that he couldn’t possibly know to prove his power. Then when Nathanael praises him as the Son of God, Jesus says in so many words, “Really? Because of that? That was nothing, wait until you see what I can actually do.”

This is pretty funny to me, but it also illustrates an important point. How often do we believe in the power of Christ? We may believe he had power years ago or that he had divine strength when he walked on the earth. We may even say he has power in the lives of those around us. But do we believe in his power when it comes to our life?

I think all too often we leave our own difficult circumstances up to ourselves because we don’t want to bug God or don’t believe he can handle it. We go through this life struggling because we rely solely on our humanity. We try with all our might and begin to realize that there are some things we just cannot do, some things that leave us feeling completely helpless. In walks Jesus. Do we believe he can help?

St. Teresa of Avila I think said it best when she said, “We pay God a compliment by asking great things of him.” Do we ask big things? Or do we do the classic Catholic thing where we believe God can do all things but we immediately add the caveat, “if it is in his will.” Of course, this is true that God will not do anything against his will, but when I hear people say that it is often to say God probably won’t do it.

How about we try walking through life and believing in the power of God? No caveats, no doubt, no fear, just trust. Let’s pray for this grace and be bold in our prayer. From all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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Divine Forgiveness

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Imagine the tangible power of forgiveness? Have you ever experienced it? In the fallen and broken world we live in, forgiveness is what can make us whole again, it is what can fill in the cracks of our fallen humanity with the divine love of God.

I can remember a specific confession of mine as a kid where I literally thought the priest was going to punch me through the confessional screen after finding out what I had done. Instead, he calmly said to me, “Son, I am a Monsignor in my parish. I have been around a lot longer than you have and I have been sinning longer than you have and at times I can be good at it. You have to give yourself a break. We all fall short, and Jesus brings us home.”

This really struck me. No matter what we do, God still loves us and desperately wants to forgive us. We only need to ask. Now I think we all know this in our minds, but take a second and ask yourself if you’ve let it penetrate your heart. That no matter how shamefully we fall, we can have hope in the mercy of God and what he did for us on the cross.

Now let’s flip it around and receive our lesson for the day from the Gospel. As much as we need forgiveness from God, we also need to give forgiveness to others. The Gospel reading can seem harsh, but it’s true. If we are constantly asking for mercy and not giving any in return than we are no better than the Pharisees.

So the question for you and me today is this, who do you need to forgive? We all have someone who has hurt us in one way or another. God has already forgiven them, have we? This can be a tall order, depending on what they have done to hurt us, but this is where we ask for the grace of God to come into our hearts and allow us to forgive with divine forgiveness. The same forgiveness he has open to us every single day. From all of us here at Rodzinka Ministry, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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Trust in the Power of Christ

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This is my all-time favorite passage in scripture. Firstly, we see Jesus go off by himself to pray. As if preparing for the opening night of a play or an amazing feat of strength, Jesus goes off by himself to focus on the miracle he is about to perform, and more importantly, the message he is going to send.

Secondly, you can almost feel the fear in the hearts of the disciples. The boat being tossed by the waves, their minds knowing from their trade how quickly the sea can turn from a friend to a foe. A single second is the difference between life and death. Jesus allows them to stay in the boat until they mistake him for a ghost and he immediately shows to them who he is. The disciples realize how much they need the Lord, and immediately he shows himself to them.

Thirdly, he shows them how they can trust. Trust in the power and might of God. Trust in his promises. Trust in his love. Trust in his mercy. So Jesus prays, helps the disciples see their need for God, and then fulfills this need through his miracle of walking on the water and calming the storm.

The question is how do we respond? The disciples responded in three ways. There were those who remained scared and stayed in the boat. Fear overcame them and they did not trust. There was Peter who walked out on the water towards Jesus. His eyes fully fixed on Christ and his promises. And then finally there is Peter as he sinks, getting distracted by the waves that crashed about around him and losing focus on the Lord.

Which one are we? Are we afraid? Are we walking and trusting? Or are we starting to sink? The answer to wherever we are at right now in our lives is what Jesus taught us. Pray, realize our need for God, and then allow the Lord to perform wondrous miracles in our lives. May we be honest with ourselves about where we are and strive to trust, even when the waves crash. God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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Peer Pressure

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In today’s Gospel, we hear about one of the first documented and most intense cases of peer pressure. Because of a fear of the crowd, Herod murders John the Baptist. Now it may seem like this is an extreme example and we might think, nobody would ever do that in our time, or how could it have gone that far?

But let’s take a moment and bring this story into our particular experiences. Sometimes it can help when we read the bible to put ourselves into the situation. Usually, this works best if we put ourselves as one of the people Jesus is loving or teaching, or it’s at least easier that way. But I am going to challenge us to put ourselves in the point of view of Herod.

When was the last time we let our beliefs crumble because of a certain fear or embarrassment? Think about this last time and ask the question, is that something you ever would have done years ago? What I have noticed in my own life is if I start to slowly give in to peer pressure or remain silent when I should speak up, it starts slow and eventually I lose sight of who I was years ago and the things I promised I would never budge on.

Maybe we wouldn’t murder someone out of fear, but what have we done recently because it was just easier to give in than to stand up for the truth? This is an important and difficult question. As we ask it, let’s keep Jesus close. He will help us remember what the truth is and how we can continue to live from it to the best of our ability with his grace and mercy. God Bless and happy thinking and praying.

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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How Lucky We Are To Be Alive Right Now

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“They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.”

I know I’ve been there in my spiritual life. Sometimes we have these things called plans and they end up being way off the mark and then we see what God had planned all along. Ever been there?

When I read the Gospel today I think about how frustrating it must have been for the people in the Old Testament, because they didn’t yet have the teachings and life of Christ.

To quote a popular musical, “How lucky we are to be alive right now.” We are among the people who have been granted the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but still, sometimes we do not see or hear.

What would it take for us to fully believe in the Sacraments in such a way that we actually saw Jesus in the Eucharist? What would it take for us to fully believe that Christ died for us and we are saved through his grace? I mean fully believe it. We want it to be true. We have faith to believe, but there is still this human doubt that sometimes gets in the way.

I think this happens when we listen with human ears and look with human eyes, instead of relying on the spiritual revelations of God. What Jesus did on the cross bridged the gap between our human nature and the divine. So much so that when we are in heaven the Church teaches that we will participate fully in the divinity of God.

This isn’t something that is just for our future in heaven, but we have been adopted into this beautiful reality here and now, through our Baptism. If we allow Christ into our human hearts, we start to become what we were meant to be, and we can listen beyond human ears and human eyes.

This may all seem a little high in the clouds to comprehend, and in a sense, it is, it is beyond our intellect, but God gives us the grace to believe. Are we listening? That’s the question for today. Let’s pray for the grace to hear as Jesus hears and see as he sees. God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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Signs and Wonders

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Have you ever thought about how many processes are involved just to bring us one simple breath or a heartbeat? This is commonplace knowledge for a med student and beyond the realm of most of us, but very few sit and reflect on what is actually involved. What about the mathematics of the distance between the earth and the sun and how a single degree off could send us spiraling into a fiery abyss? Again, common knowledge to an astrophysicist and above our limited reason without study, but how many truly sit and ponder and reflect on this?

Ok, maybe those are huge examples. How about the process that goes into a hot cup of coffee? From someone growing the beans to shipping them, to grinding them, to roasting them, to finally making the cup. A seemingly simple action, but lots of work behind the scenes.

Such is our spiritual life sometimes. I don’t know about you but I grew up asking for signs. Asking for things that would be tangible that would show me Jesus and his love. Here in today’s Gospel, we hear the same cry and we hear Jesus’ quick response. “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign.”

This kind of hits you in the face at first, but of course Jesus is not saying that there is evil in signs. In fact, he spent most of his time on earth performing miracles in order to show his power and love. What he is saying here is that an evil generation continues looking for a sign when we need to look no further than our very lives.

When was the last time God blessed you with his love? The simple answer is the last time you took a breath, but really stop and think about it for a second. When was the last tangible time that God blessed you? I think for many of us we are far too busy to see. We don’t slow down enough to notice the miracles happening right before us.

Let’s change this today. I challenge you and myself to pay attention to the Lord’s love and power. Make it a point to thank Jesus throughout the day as you see him working and know that he is with you. God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.

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The Perfect Will of God

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A will, a desperate attempt to put things in order and give the loved ones in our lives their due if anything were to happen to us. Free will, that messy and confusing thing which allows for wars, death, unhappiness, and pain but also allows for true love, joy, and peace. God’s will, something that we know keeps all the world in motion, but that is also impossible to grasp with our human reason because we cannot see with the eyes of God.

God’s will isn’t directly spoken of in the Gospel, but we see a glimpse of it. Jesus, being both God and man, knows that he has a purpose that he is getting closer and closer to. He also knows he has a limited time to minister to the people he is with on the earth. With this knowledge, when the threat of death came to Jesus, he left the area.

This was not because of fear or rejection of the will of the Father, quite the opposite. He knew this was not yet his time and so he left to a place where he could continue to minister to others and heal the sick.

There has been a lot of talk about the end of the world in 2020. All the things this year has brought has made people wonder about when Jesus will return, but the reality is, the end of the world is not yet here.

Whether it is coming soon or not our focus should not be to try and figure out when it is but to go where we can still minister, love, and heal. Let’s take a lesson straight from Jesus’ actions and try to find moments where we can escape the evil that is currently going on and instead bring people hope.

Whether the world ends tomorrow or in 2,000 years, let’s make sure that when Jesus comes we are busy doing exactly what he would have done. God’s will is perfect and he has us exactly where we need to be to bless the people he wants us to meet. May we all have the strength and joy to live it well. God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is Director of Evangelization for the North Allegan Catholic Collaborative and the founder of Rodzinka Ministries. In these roles, he is committed to bringing all those he meets into a deeper relationship with Christ. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. With a degree in Theology from Franciscan University, Tommy hopes to use his knowledge to help all people understand the beauty of The Faith.