By Jonathan Marohl
Come Holy Spirit Come enlighten, guide, strengthen and console us. Draw out from within us any fear. As you tell us in the last discourse from the gospel of John, do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God and faith in me. I solemnly assure you the man who has faith in me will do the works I do, and greater than these. Lord, I ask you to increase our faith. Shape us into the servant leaders you are calling us to become. Please replace any fear we may have with fortitude. And in this time of opportunity give us the courage to do greater than these. Amen.
What a gift we have been given Friends! This TLI program has been an amazing experience. So on behalf of the entire class of 2025, we say thank you to everyone who has been part of this year’s program. From the leadership and the board to the staff and volunteers and mentors and support staff we say thank you for your gift to us. And class as we graduate today and this portion of classes come to an end our next adventure begins. The question is what will you do with the gift you have been given? In the gospel of Matthew, it talks about people given a gift one went and buried it and 2 invested it and doubled its value. So, I encourage you to invest this gift in others to return 30, or 60, or 100 fold.
In this jubilee year of Hope, become a beacon of hope to others through your servant leadership. Be an inspiration to everyone you encounter. As Romans 5:3-5 states, we even boast of our afflictions, we know that affliction makes for endurance and endurance for tested virtue and tested virtue for hope and this hope will not leave us disappointed because the love of God has been poured out in our heart’s through the holy spirit who has been given to us. So let’s inspire hope in this world that so desperately needs it.
Personally, for me this program has been an absolute blessing in my life. As just a lowly cowboy, rancher, husband, father, and grandfather from a town of 63 people on the wind-swept prairies of North Dakota I can relate to David when Samuel came to Jesse to pick the next king and David was tending to the animals. For several of my meetings with my mentor I was out in a pasture tending to the animals and many evenings I had to hurry home from the range to get on my wife’s computer and launch the zoom meeting under her name Michelle.
I am unworthy to be called the class president but am truly honored to have been chosen. This recognition is one of the highest honors I have ever received in my entire life. It has broadened my perspective from a state who has more cows than people and for someone who lives down 9 miles of gravel roads with very few neighbors, to classmates from around the world and people from areas with millions of people around them. What an extraordinary experience this truly has been to draw closer with our brothers and sisters united in our Catholic faith from such a diverse background.
And just a quick story about my life and how TLI has impacted me. I have gone from an individual who was chained down from Division in the family Discouragement from past choices and experiences Disordered desires for power and pleasure Delusional ideas of perfection and dealing with the death of many close loved ones. The Devil and this D list almost destroyed me. In my life I have experienced moments of despair and at the lowest point of my life I was invited to a healing mass and that night had a profound encounter with God and for the first time felt his love and mercy. Since that turning point God has been breaking the chains that were crippling me one by one. He has been slowly and carefully healing areas of my life where I have wounded others or have been wounded by others.
Last summer in Indianapolis Indiana at the National Eucharist Conference in adoration he revealed to me the root of all my sin and then removed it. Since then, my heart has been on fire, and I have been trying to figure out his will for my life and what my mission is and thanks to the TLI retreat again in adoration he clearly revealed it to me and the time frame in which to do it. I am so thankful for this program and all the great classes and relevant topics they discussed. I feel more prepared than ever to live my life for Jesus Christ and become the servant leader God is calling me to be.
So again, thank you to everyone who in any way contributed to the success of the class of 2025 we will be forever grateful to you.
In closing while working on this I had an inspiration and have written my first song that I would like to share that summarizes my TLI Experience.
It is titled “Through the Lens of Love.”
Lens of Love oh Lens of Love
Help us to see as from Above
Bless us with the gifts from the Dove
Conform our hearts to Yours like a glove
Oh, lens of Love oh lens of Love
And if you fall, you’re not a failure
Your life is more than just a wager
You may land short, but you have a savior
Through it all oh through it all
Oh, lens of Love oh lens of Love
Allow us to Invision, help us to inspire
The purest form of Your desire
We ask You to ignite with-in us a fire
To pursuits that are holier and higher
And with the lens of Love becoming clearer
I offer You my life to guide and steer
And from now on I will not fear
Oh, lens of Love oh lens of Love
Help me to care when others don’t dare
Move me to act not sit and stare
Help us to share the burdens others can’t bear
Oh, lens of Love oh lens of Love
Encourage me to lead as You have led
To feed as You have fed
To speak as You have said
And to bleed as You have bled
So, lens of Love
Help others see me just as I am
For I am only but a mere man
Broken and wounded just clay in Your hand
Into Your hand into Your hand
Yet through it all yes through it all
I will not shrink I will stand tall
Care to join me, we’ll have a ball
We’ll work from winter until the chill of fall
Through it all oh through it all
And when our time down here is due
I pray we have been made new
And are welcomed into eternity with You
Yes, through it all
Through every trial there is a treasure
Through all the pain you can find pleasure
Through it all there is a love no one can measure
Through it all I will stand tall
Oh, through it all yes through it all.
