Wisdom for Wednesdays

“In three different ways, woman can fulfill the mission of motherliness: in marriage, in the practice of a profession that values human development … and under the veil as the spouse of Christ.” 

~St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

(Thanks to Women of Grace for this beautiful quote!!)

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Let us not forget that in all human activities there must be men and women who, in their lives and work, raise Christ's Cross aloft for all to see, as an act of reparation. It is a symbol of peace and of joy, a symbol of the Redemption and of the unity of the human race. It is a symbol of the love that the Most Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit had, and continues to have, for mankind." 

-St. Josemaria Escriva

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"All men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life. In a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece."

-(Pope) St. John Paul II

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Love that cannot suffer is not worthy of that name."

Saint Clare of Assisi

Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.

This fairy tale has had its share of fire-breathing dragons, damsels in distress, and tangled forests.

And to be honest? It probably will continue to.

But that's okay...“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” 

Our tale?

Once upon a time we met in Summer 2011 at a church picnic. He fell head over heels. I was dating someone else.
The photographer claims she knew it was coming...

I joined as a chaperone for the mission trip in Spring 2012, no longer in a relationship.
Now I fall head over heels for this incredible spiritual leader.
Who also has all the charm of, well, you know, Prince Charming.

So we work together,

We laugh together.

We serve together.

But life gets messy. Really messy sometimes.

We wonder if God is really calling us to play on the same team.

 We ask for a little help from our friends...



A lot of time, tears, grace, and growth. Dragons being beaten. Dark forests being traveled. 

And then one day...

This.

He proposes. I say yes. 

And we live happily ever after.
Well, kind of. Because the goal of marriage isn't to be happy...
It's to be holy.
And to get to Heaven, where we'll be eternally happy.
So we're on this journey together with the hope of a happily ever after.

The end.

Just kidding. It's only the beginning. And I'm beyond grateful to be walking this path with this man whom I admire, respect, and love so deeply. What a gift. What an incredible joy and blessing from above. Thank YOU for your faithful friendship as a reader, for staying with me through the storms and sunshine. Please continue to do so, for I treasure you and love sharing life with you. Pray for us and know that I pray for you.

Life is beautiful. 

"Every person's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers." -Hans Christian Andersen

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"As I see it, we shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know God." 

-Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila



Love,

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle."

-St. Francis

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."

-Saint John Paul II

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Pray, hope, and don't worry." 

-St. Pio of Pietrelcino

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"The nation doesn't simply need what we have. It needs what we are."

-St. Teresia Benedicta (Edith Stein)

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves."

-St. Francis de Sales

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"The woman’s soul is fashioned as a shelter in which other souls may unfold."

 -Edith Stein

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Our free will is the only thing that is really our own. Our health, our wealth, our power--all these God can take from us. But our freedom he leaves to us....Because freedom is our own, it is the only perfect gift that we can make to God."

-Archbishop Fulton Sheen, qtd. in Walking with Mary: A Biblical Journey from Nazareth to the Cross, by Edward Sri

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of the risen Christ." 

 

-Mother Teresa

[Thanks, Emily Elizabeth!]

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Do not pay any attention to the kind of work you do, but rather to the honor that it brings to God, even though it may seem quite trivial. Desire only to do the Divine Will, following Divine Providence, which is the disposition of Divine Wisdom. In a word, if your works are pleasing to God and recognized as such, that is all that matters. Work hard every day at increasing your purity of heart, which consists in appraising things and weighing them in the balance of God's will."

-St. Francis de Sales

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"Let us strive to face suffering with Christian courage. Then all difficulties will vanish and pain itself will become transformed into joy."

-St. Teresa of Avila

 

(It's Ash Wednesday, friends! Let's take up our crosses and follow Him.)

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"...and then I will sing, I will always sing, even if I must gather my roses in the very midst of thorns--and the longer and sharper the thorns the sweeter shall be my song."

-Story of a Soul, St. Therese of Lisieux

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"The glory of God is a human being fully alive; and to be alive consists in beholding God."

-St. Irenaeus

Wisdom for Wednesdays

"God did not tell us to follow Him because He needed our help, but because he knew that loving Him would make us whole."

-St. Irenaeus