LITTLE FALLS, Minn. (OSV News) — Standing on a streetcorner greeting passersby is not something Will Threlkeld has ever done before. But every Monday morning in downtown Little Falls, that's exactly where you can find him, greeting people and showing them the face of Jesus.
He's just doing what the Lord has asked of him, he said.
"I asked the Holy Spirit to come into my soul, I surrendered myself to Jesus and I asked him to use me," Threlkeld told The Central Minnesota Catholic, magazine of the Diocese of St. Cloud. "The Holy Spirit said to take the picture off my wall at home and show his children his face. So, I did what he asked."
He estimates that each Monday nearly 4,000 people passing through the intersection of Broadway Avenue and First Street SE, also known as Bank Square, have seen him holding up a 3-foot-by-5-foot print of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with a small group of friends praying the rosary behind him.
Before he started, Threlkeld reached out to Father Patrick Hoeft, parochial vicar of Little Falls' Haven of Mercy Catholic Community, to tell him he felt called to this street-corner ministry. He asked Father Hoeft to join him the next morning to pray the rosary.
"I was moved by the immensely positive response to this and the joy that it brought to people," Father Hoeft. "It's such a simple way to bring Jesus to the public mind, and it's amazing how the Lord has been at work through this."
Standing on the corner next to Will was Isaac Eggerth, a senior at Little Falls High School, who held a sign that said, "You are Loved, You are Enough."
"Will texted me one morning and said, ‘Come pray with me! Monday morning!'" Eggerth said.
"I thought that maybe people need a reminder that God will always be there for them and that we should try and spread his word as much as we can," he said.
On a recent foggy Monday morning, people from all walks of life drove by — families in SUVs, construction workers in pickup trucks, cement mixers, entire buses of kids on the way to school, the Little Falls Police and Morrison County Sheriff, even a pizza delivery guy — all waving and honking.
"As long as this is what the Holy Spirit is calling me to do, I'll do it," Threlkeld said. "It made me feel humble as I walked up (to the corner) the first time at six in the morning. I laughed, I smiled, I cried as the children of God drove by and I could see their faces light up when they saw his picture. It was beautiful."
Julie Laflamme, who is a close friend of Will and his wife, Tiffany, joined them on the corner that morning to pray the rosary.
"Anyone who knows Will, knows he loves Jesus," she said. "He lives his life in such a way that those who know him but do not know God, will come to know God because they know Will."
He wants to bring as many people to Jesus as possible, she added, and he wants people to see Jesus, not him.
"We want to focus people's attention on Jesus," Father Hoeft said. "Just like when Peter walked on the water with Jesus, it was when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the storm that he began to sink. There are so many storms raging in our culture and in people's lives, and it can become easy to be consumed with focusing on the storm. Jesus wants us to keep our eyes on him. With Jesus we can walk on the water even if the storm continues to rage."
Throughout the morning, people came to the corner to join the group or to just see what was going on, including Franciscan Sister Cordy Korkowski, who came upon them during her daily walk.
"I was inspired by the fact that they would boldly profess their faith on the streetcorner here in Little Falls," she said. "As I continued my walk I could hear the car horns honking … it was a message that carried throughout the morning rush-hour."
"We want to help others to encounter Jesus and the joy of Jesus," Laflamme said. "Why would we not want to share the most beautiful gift we've been given, Jesus Christ?"
Threlkeld just wants people to know that Jesus loves them and is waiting for them to ask him into their hearts, he said.
"My hope from all of this is to bring people to the Catholic Church, Jesus's church, so that they too, can receive the sacraments he has left us, so we can see him in heaven one day."
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Dianne Towalski is social media manager at The Central Minnesota Catholic, magazine of the Diocese of St. Cloud. This story was originally published by The Central Minnesota Catholic and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.
