Here we go. My name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is essential presents. So not too long ago I had the opportunity to accompany a bunch of our college students on a pilgrimage to Poland.

One of the things we talk about when it comes to pilgrimages is you say pilgrimages are a

microcosm of real life and they're microcosm of real life in so many ways but one of

those ways is because you kind of get what you get you know you have all your your expectations you have all of your

hopes you have all of the things you want to get from life and then you get what you get

same thing is true of a pilgrimage The original pilgrimage was scheduled to go to the Holy

Land. We had a bunch of students sign up to go to the Holy Land and then what happens is

there's conflict now in the Holy Land and so they had to reroute the pilgrimage and we

got to choose to go to Poland.

I'm not sure any of the college students who were with us in Poland would have ever

signed up for a pilgrimage if they knew it was going to Poland.

Does that make sense?

They all signed up thinking, we're going to the Holy Land.

I used to say this, I used to say, we were supposed to go to the Holy Land, but we're going

to Poland.

And then I had to change how I talked.

I had to change and say, actually, I don't think we were supposed to go to the Holy Land.

We were planning on going to the Holy Land.

But that trip, that pilgrimage to Poland,

was the pilgrimage that God orchestrated.

There's something about going to Poland that was remarkable and it was that I didn't really want to go to Poland.

I wanted to go to the Holy Land.

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