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The Joy of Simplicity

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They say that little babies sense a lot in the womb. Studies have even been done to try to determine just how much babies are aware of and at what age they start to hear sound and feel movement. The human person is incredible, aren’t we? Before we are even able to live on our own we are able to respond to sound, movement, touch, and light.

This is where we find ourselves in the Gospel for today, but John was not responding to any physical stimulus, he was responding to pure grace. We know from scripture that Mary was full of grace and that she was carrying God himself, and because of this truth John could not help but leap for joy. He knew even before he was born of the immense role this other baby would play in his salvation and his response is nothing less than complete gratitude.

When was the last time I truly allowed myself to become weak, dependent, small, and defenseless in the midst of the very same grace that Jesus offers me every day? When was the last time I lept for joy from knowing what Jesus will do and has done in my life? When was the last time I allowed myself to have childlike faith?

I truly ask myself this question as Christmas fast approaches and I hope you genuinely ask yourself this question as well. It is easy to get bogged down with the rules and expectations of faith. It is easy to get swept up in the negative talk and publicity circling around the Church Christ founded. It is easy to make prayer into a chore instead of a conversation with a lover.

But the faith is beautiful in its simplicity. If we ever find ourselves overcomplicating things, it helps to focus on this Gospel from today. God is pure grace, pure gift, and our response to that free gift should be a childlike leap for joy. Not because we deserve it, not because we have earned it, but because Christ bought it for us.

Here in this Advent season, let’s practice jumping. Let’s practice leaping for joy in the midst of grace. When the overcomplication and juridical controversies start to swirl, remember the simplicity of the Gospel. Jesus came so that we might have grace, and that should give us more joy than anything. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

“Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.”
~ G. K. Chesterton

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Jesus, The Fulfillment of the Old

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Good morning, and praise the Lord for another day. As you sit down, pour a cup of coffee, and get ready to reflect on today’s readings, I am pleased to present to you the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. At first glance, perhaps the most boring bible verse out of all of them, one that makes you wonder why Matthew would spend so much time talking about generation after generation of impossible to pronounce names.

If you are tempted to read only the first line and then give up and read something better like a dictionary or car manual, I implore you to take another look. There is a reason that Matthew is so specific about the generations before Jesus.

We have a set of three groups, with fourteen generations in each. Perhaps the important number here is not fourteen, but instead the number seven. Seven is seen throughout scripture as the number of perfection or fulfillment. As we all know, Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. Do the math, when you add up all the groups you have six groups of seven generations each until we finally see the last group, the generation of the Messiah. This final group completes seven groups and symbolizes that Christ came to fulfill all that came before.

We see a similar symbolism at the Wedding at Cana. Six jars of overflowing wine (a biblical symbol for God’s love) appeared as the first of Jesus’ miracles, with himself being the seventh and never-ending outpouring of love. We see it again with the woman who had six husbands and Jesus came and invited her into his love as the seventh.

Numbers are important in the bible. This seemingly boring Gospel passage shows us that Jesus became a man to restore, to fulfill, to give his perfect love, and to reunite us to the Father. Numbers don’t lie, and neither does our Lord. He fulfills his promise in our lives every day, all we have to do is accept this gift of perfect and limitless love. When was the last time you did? From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Eclipse of Love

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“Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever.”

What a beautiful way to start the day, huh? All of us want to flee mourning and misery and put on the splendor of God. Our company just finished a conference with NFCYM where myParish App was the official app of the conference. On my flight back we got delayed and were stuck in the Chicago airport. We tried to get to our hotel for the night but got on the wrong bus. After getting off, I realized I left my phone on that bus and we had to wait a half hour for it to come back around. Long story short, we got two hours of sleep and I am now writing to you from a little plastic chair in the Chicago airport.

I needed a little pick me up this morning, and here the word of God delivered in a big way. Sometimes we go through times of misery, but the reminder of the Gospel is that it does not last. We are all made for glory and happiness with our God. The saints call these moments of ups and downs in our lives times of desolation and consolation.

Sometimes we have times where it is hard to see God working, it is hard to find hope. These would be moments of desolation. But in reality, we know that God is always there and ultimately he wants us to be happy with him forever. I like to relate this to a solar eclipse. For a few seconds, the sun is not visible. It is completely obstructed. But we know that even though we cannot see it or even feel its effects, that it is not gone forever. The eclipse finishes and the sun emerges. It is the same with the son of God.

Sometimes we feel like we can’t feel or see or hear God, but then those moments of consolation come where we truly feel his peace and love and live in that peace. These moments remind us that he never left and that we do not have to be afraid. St. Francis De Sales once said, “Fear is a greater evil than evil itself. O you of little faith: what is it you fear? Do not be afraid. You are walking on water, amid wind and wave, but you are with Jesus. What is there to fear? If fear takes hold of you, cry out strongly, ‘O Lord, save me!’ He will hold out a hand to you. Hold on tight and go forward with joy.”

I don’t know what kind of suffering is happening in your life right now. It might not be as little as losing a phone and getting very little sleep, (I got the phone back by the way) but whatever your suffering is, do not give up hope. Wait for the Son to appear again and give you his unconditional love and peace. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Christ Reminds us of Who We Are

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“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Often when I read verses like this one from Today’s Gospel, I become discouraged and feel disheartened. In today’s world, with all its tribulations, we have to cry out to God for the strength to persevere. Like the beggar who pounds his breasts in the temple, we cry for the grace to avoid sin and attain virtue.

The reason this saddens my heart is that God did not ever desire this for us. There was a time when virtue was what we wanted when love was our first thought in relation to others when praise of the Lord just made sense and didn’t take effort. As sad as it is that we now have to cry out, could you imagine if we didn’t have a savior who has allowed us to beg for the grace we lost?

Think about it, in the garden Adam and Eve were human beings par excellence. They were who all of us long to be. They just had the grace from God, they didn’t need to beg on bended knee. Then the fall happened and changed the entire world and the whole human race. We lost our inheritance, but God became man so that we could ask for it back and through his power we receive it.

“But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”

Scripture speaks of signs that will happen letting us know our redemption is at hand. The first sign of our coming redemption is the birth of Christ. This is what we celebrate at Christmas, that God loves us enough to give us another shot. Not to go back to the beginning, but to go through our beginning state and beyond. Enjoying abounding grace, unconditional love, and perfect hope.

I often think of this verse when Christmas approaches, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Now, this may seem like an unrelated verse to Christmas. It just feels like a verse of condemnation and impossible standards. But the reality is that for Christ to hold us to such a high standard, he has to redeem us to the level where we can attain the standard. 

This verse is not so much a condemnation, but a calling. A calling to accept the grace Christ wants to give, grace that gives us the strength to live and to love how God calls us. God became a man to redeem us of course, but he also became a man to remind us of who we are and how we are created. We have forgotten our worth, God taking on a body and becoming human reminds us of it. That should give us great joy. Happy Advent and from all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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A Perfect Paradise

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“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur.

Can you imagine a paradise where there is no sin, no hate, no war, no suffering of any kind? It has been written about in books and poems, movies have been made about it, many men and women have spent restless nights under the stars dreaming of the very place. A utopia like this is what we all desire because we were made for it.

Journey back with me to the beginning. Imagine the state of Adam and Eve in the garden, complete love of God and each other. They had no sin and did not use the other, but only had room for love. They had no concept even of what sin was. Perfection! Sounds great right?

Well then, something happened that changed the course of history. Adam and Eve fell. They sinned against an eternal God. And the only thing that could save all of humanity is if that same eternal God became one of us and made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. And that is precisely what Jesus did on the cross.

But the beautiful thing is that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross does not take us back to the beginning, it takes us beyond. In the garden, Adam and Eve did not experience the beatific vision, that is, they did not “see” God. They did not perfectly participate in His divinity. This is a state that is reserved for us now because God became a man. This is why the Catechism says that “God became man so that man might become God.”

This is our destiny. This should give us immense hope. So if you are still dreaming or writing about that Utopia, take faith in the fact that this is our destiny, to be happy with God forever, and that truly is good news. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Be Not Afraid

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Have you ever been at the rock bottom, feeling like you are falling into a pit of despair and hopelessness? This could come from many things; problems with family, work, friends, or health. There are many things in this world that make us feel like we are drowning.

The woman in the first reading today can relate. Here we have a prophet begging her for food and water as she knows full well that her next meal will be her last. She has already prepared for the death of her and her son after they run out of flour and oil. Mixed with this turmoil and fear she was either racked with a distrust of God or the feeling that perhaps this was the Lord’s plan for her and she had come to accept it.

Either way, she had lost hope, and was already preparing for something that she did not know for sure would happen. I am reminded of the movie, “The Mist.” In this film, the main character gives up all hope and thinks he knows what is going to happen to the group of people that he befriends. He makes a decision that results in the deaths of all those present and just as it looks like the creatures are going to take him too, the clouds part and the army comes in and saves him.

The point here is that we have two scenarios where the subject of the story acts as if they have certainty about the future, but it turns out they have no idea what God has planned. The woman with little flour prepares for her death and is then saved. The man in the movie prepares for his death as well and is saved at the last second.

Wrought with heartache and suffering, I think our first response is to give in to doubt and fear and then make decisions based entirely on this fear. But the scriptures today are very clear, “Do not be afraid.” God knows our suffering and our hurt. He is there with us.

Ok stop for a second, you have heard it before, God is with us. Have you let it sink in? Here is the reality, God exists outside of time as we know it. Theologians say He is in what we call the eternal now. This means that every moment that has ever happened or will happen is present to God right now. It was the same at the cross. When Jesus gave His life, He took on all the pain, sin, hurt, despair, and fear of the entire world and experienced it as you and I do. Don’t forget that he was a human with real emotions and he experienced pain.

This should give us such great hope because Christ conquered it all on the cross. He stared your suffering in the face and overcame it so you could one day be in heaven with Him. Don’t let this be just another time that you hear that God cares. Take five minutes today and thank God for His love and ask Him to join you in your current suffering, after all, He already conquered it. Do not lose hope. Be not afraid. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Baptized Into His Death

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“For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.”

The past few days of readings have been about death. Today we hear that death is gain and yesterday we heard that we are baptized into Christ’s death. All this death talk seems like a lot of doom and gloom, after all, death is not something that we enjoy, so how can it be something that we gain and something we are baptized into?

Do you remember the movie Alladin? At the end of the movie Jafar, the villain of the film, asks to become the most powerful genie in the entire world. Alladin grabs the lamp and reaches it to the sky as Jafar spirals into his new prison because if you have seen the movie, you know that if you are going to be a genie, you have to accept everything that goes with it. It can seem this way with death too.

As human beings, death is now a part of us, and we have to accept everything that goes with it. When we were born, we inherited the death that Adam and Eve brought into the world through sin. We lost our inheritance of perfect love with God and each other. This seems like something that enslaves us and certainly does not seem like a positive thing. So why all this talk about being baptized into Christ’s death?

Well, death can only be seen as a positive thing in this world through the lens of the cross. If we think of Christ as the new Adam who has come into the world to mend our relationship with God, then it makes sense to be baptized into His death. After all, Christ’s death is the fact that He conquered it and rose. This is what we are baptized into.

St. John Paul II once said, “He (man) is called in that truth which has been his heritage from the beginning, the heritage of his heart, which is deeper than the sinfulness inherited.” What he is saying here is that our inheritance of grace and love of God and neighbor goes far deeper than the inheritance of original sin. What Christ has done on the cross is brought us back into this inheritance that we long for, while destroying the inhertiance of sin through His ressurection. This indeed is cause for great joy.

Let us thank God for the gift of the cross, the gift that allows us to live by the original love and truth that we were given from the beginning, before sin and before death. Amen!

“For we are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!”
-St. John Paul II

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Incomprehensible Love

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Wow, the first reading really spoke to my heart today. Sometimes we have problems knowing the love of God, don’t we? We know rationally that God loves us but we almost justify it as a far away detached love, kind of like the love between family members who have never met. They have a bond but it is not very deep. Since I have been married for over a week now and am pretty much a pro (haha) I can say that the type of love where we share everything, complete vulnerability, is scary. But it is also the most incredible thing that a human person can experience.

All throughout scriptures the analogy of a husband and a wife is used to describe the love between Christ and His Church. God wants to share an intimate, vulnerable, selfless love with us and have us return that love as well. This is what it is to be in a relationship. But sometimes that is really hard and scary to do. Now, are you ready for the most amazing part? God knows it is hard for us and so He helps us through it. He loves us so much that He gives us the grace to love in a complete way, and it’s even impossible without His grace.

In the first reading from today, the author of Ephesians prays that we can comprehend the love of God which surpasses all understanding. That is to say that our human minds and hearts cannot even begin to grasp the depth and beauty of the love of God. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity steps in and becomes one of us to teach us how we can love.

All throughout the scriptures we hear about covenants between God and His people. These covenants are broken time and again, but never by God. He is always the faithful one, always the one to pick us up, always the one to figure out a way. This is so beautiful. Having been married now for a little while I can say with conviction that this kind of self-giving love exists, and man is it amazing. And the love Nathalie and I share, as amazing as it is, is only a foretaste of the love we will share with God in heaven. How incredible, that God loves us so much that he wants us to experience and understand the depths of His love, a love that is incomprehensible to the human mind, but one we all desire. And he helps us get there. When we are weak He steps in with His grace and gives us the capability for a selfless love.

Let us pray for the strength to accept this free love and grace from God and to not be afraid to return it back so we can truly say we are in a relationship with Him. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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O Death Where Is Your Sting?

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“Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man.”

Death is a strange thing. I can still remember a moment in my childhood when I became aware of the reality of death. I remember asking my parents why everyone had to die. I think one of the most common reactions to death is uncertainty. In a world where so many things have been proven, learned and studied, death is one of those things that we still don’t know much about.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us to be ready for the end. We must gird our loins and light our lamps and await the master’s return. But He does not call us to do this out of fear or uncertainty, but rather so we can be certain that we will spend eternity with Him. He says in the first reading that He is our peace and that He will put death not to us, but to the division we have caused in our hearts.

Once He has put death to enmity, we will then be full members of the household of God. So as strange and unclear that death is, as unnatural as it is to our human condition, the thing that is really being put to death, in the end, is our sinfulness so we can rise victorious because of what Christ did for us on the cross.

You may have heard of the idea of the original sin being a happy fault because it gained for us so great a redeemer. It is kind of the same with death and the end times. These are now necessary parts of the human condition that strip away the brokenness, sin, hurt, and pain of this world so that we may go beyond death into eternal life.

This is what Christ gained for us. So when He says to be watchful and vigilant, He is calling us to have certainty that when the end comes, we will be among those good and faithful servants. He wants to replace our uncertainty with full knowledge of the world, He wants to put death to our old ways and raise us to new life, He wants us to be His people, His community, His household, happy with him forever because of the power of the cross. That is good news. God Bless!

“O Death, where is your sting?”

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Childlike Faith

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“Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.” -MT 18

A child is a perfect example of living in the world but not of the world. They often have this perfect balance between awareness of a spiritual reality and yet they have not yet been influenced by the different negative forces in the world.

Many look at this and call it immaturity, they just need to grow up and experience the real world and then they will know. As if experience of the negative things in this life is what we were made for.

I like to think of a time before the original sin when Adam and Eve were in the garden. Think of how childlike they must have been, trusting and relying fully on God, loving in a way that is pure and holy just like that of a child, a humble admittance that they were created and thus not the creator.

All of this was broken however when they fell. And why did they fall? They wanted to take God’s place. They wanted the full knowledge that God had, the knowledge which Satan promised would make them like God. And it is precisely in receiving this knowledge that they became blind, less childlike, prideful, sinful, broken.

Our hearts were made for innocence, and that innocence was shattered. Thankfully we have a divine physician. If our original state in the garden could be portrayed as a beautiful stained glass window, then at the fall this window was shattered. But Jesus came and picked up those pieces one by one and put them back into place so that the original beauty of God’s plan could shine through. This is the beautiful story of redemption that we can each begin to experience even here and now.

Today is the memorial of the guardian angels. Our guardian angel was specifically appointed by God to help us see that original light and beauty and to live by it. To go back to that childlike trust which we tried to leave behind. I invite you to allow God to pick up your pieces. Let Him breathe light where there is darkness. Let Him in and see what He will do and has done for you. God Bless!

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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True Faith

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“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!”

What is Faith? The dictionary defines it several ways. Some say complete trust in another. Others say a belief that is not based on proof. As Catholics, we know it is one of the Cardinal Virtues, faith, hope, and love. But do we live with complete faith in God or is our faith conditional, and therefore not faith at all?

I think of the things going on in our world and the Church. These are not easy things to deal with nor should they be taken lightly. But as our faith in the Lord and His church is shaken, what is our response? See, faith is easy when it goes untested. A child can look at the Eucharist and say, “Mommy is that Jesus,” and believe wholeheartedly that it is. But then life happens. This child’s parents maybe aren’t trustworthy in every instance. Peers and friend groups try to persuade this or that opinion. And the child naturally starts to question, and it is in this questioning and doubt that faith is strengthened and tested.

My fiance and I are getting married now in less than two weeks, and we are starting the process of buying a house and moving in all before the wedding. These are some big scary moments in every person’s life, and they put our faith to the test. Faith and trust in each other and our love that we will genuinely care for and be there for the other through thick and thin. Faith and trust in God who is moving our lives in all these exciting new directions. And faith that when the storms do come, we will have the foundation that will stand. Thank goodness God has brought me someone that I can put my faith in and He has brought us together with complete faith in Himself.

We all go through testing of faith, and for many of us, it has happened with all the recent and ongoing news in the Catholic Church. But I ask you if you were to lose everything that you owned right now who would you put your faith in? Is your faith strong enough to endure even the most tumultuous sea? I would like to say that mine is, but that’s the thing about faith. It is not based on us; it is based on something outside of ourselves, something more significant. It is a gift from God that we must ask and beg for in times where it is hard to see the good. We need to pray for a faith like Job. Let us pray for that faith. Amen!

And so one day, while his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, a messenger came to Job and said,” The oxen were plowing and the asses grazing beside them, and the Sabeans carried them off in a raid. They put the herdsmen to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, “Lightning has fallen from heaven and struck the sheep and their shepherds and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was yet speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, seized the camels, carried them off, and put those tending them to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was yet speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, when suddenly a great wind came across the desert
and smote the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Then Job began to tear his cloak and cut off his hair. He cast himself prostrate upon the ground, and said,

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD!” -Job 1:13-22

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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The Truth Of The Incarnation

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“Jesus was praying in solitude.” Luke 9:18

We hear these words in the Gospel, and they can quickly fly by us like a falling leaf during the fall months, without much awareness. But these few words are so rich in there meaning. Christians believe that God is a trinity, three persons in just one God. Jesus prayed to the Father, just as we do. His human nature is such that He prays, He begs for suffering to pass, He weeps when his friend dies, He sweats blood from the pain and weight of all the sins of the world.

This mystery of the Second Person of The Trinity taking on human nature is fundamental to our salvation. St. John Paul II even says, “Through the Fact that the Word of God became flesh, the body entered theology through the main door.”

Think about this for a second. Ok now stop and actually think about it. We have a God who loves us so deeply that he takes on the form of a slave. He becomes one of us in every way except sin. Can you imagine a King who leaves his palace and lives amongst the peasants, not only to experience as they do but to help them and love them. Jesus takes this even further, He literally becomes one of us, to redeem us. That is how important we are to Him.

We can take this so far as to say that whenever we doubt the love of God, whenever we say we are not worth it, whenever we say that our sins are too many or our wounds too deep, that is as if we are standing in front of a crucifix and saying to Jesus that it was not enough. “It may have worked for others, but there is no way it could work for me, God.”

At which point Jesus looks down at us and says this is for you. If you were the only one who ever hurt me, I would become man and die just for you. I think because we have grown up hearing the story of Christ and his life, death, and resurrection, it becomes commonplace. Just like that leaf falling from the trees during the fall season. It is just something that happened. It is essential to stop, take a breath, and ground ourselves in the truth that the incarnation is a fact, that the crucifixion occurred, that it produces power in our lives, that it redeems our fallen human nature eventually to the level of divinity in heaven.

This is the joy by which we live. Have you shared it recently?

Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. 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. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.