A Love Worth Waiting For

"Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." – Hebrews 13:4

Hello dear friends in Christ! I hope everyone has had a blessed May, Our Lady's special month. Spring is such a beautiful time of year when nature thrives among us. Every day I look out my window and see sunny skies, gorgeous flowers, fluttering butterflies, squirrels scurrying up trees, and birds chirping in the wind. It has been very nice to take some time off now that the semester is over. Now I can relax because all of the hard work is done. I have officially graduated college and earned my degree with the honors of Magna Cum Laude! It has been a whirlwind of a ride, but I have the feeling it is only just getting started. I am ready to embrace a new adventure and to see where God takes me in this amazing world of His.

As I begin to embark on a new phase in life I recall my high school days at the Academy of the Holy Names, an all-girls Catholic high school, where we talked about vocations in religion class. What is a vocation anyways? Well, I can tell you one thing—it's not just a job or a profession, but rather a lifestyle. A vocation is a summons or strong inclination to a particular call by God. This divine calling puts us in the right place to serve God and His Kingdom as best as we can on earth...but only if one adheres to it. If we ignore God's calling to our true vocation we will end up missing out on the best plan He has for us!

Although I feel very strongly that God has called me to graduate school in attending the University of St. Thomas, I know that is not my vocation. That specific calling is more in line with my profession. My vocation will be how I choose to live my life in accordance with God's calling to a particular lifestyle. Maybe going to St. Thomas will help fulfill my vocational calling in leading me in the right direction.

Since I am very active within the Catholic Church many people have asked me if I'd like to become a nun. However, I personally feel called to a married life instead. Even so, religious life is another beautiful vocation! I admire those who choose to love God in this way. It is a great sacrifice. But many people will also tell you that marriage is just as big of a sacrifice, in a different way.

Both vocational callings, married and religious, are different—yet similar. Being a religious, priest, deacon, nun, brother, sister, monk, etc., has the call to love God within the church and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. A priestly vocation, anointed by the Sacrament of Holy Orders, also includes the love of his congregation and clergymen. This is another way to love God, through other people. It is such a beautiful way to love...which is also shown significantly in the Sacrament of Matrimony. In marriage the couple loves one another and commits to this love with their vows, honoring God and each other. In doing so, they love Jesus in a formally committed way because Christ resides in every person. If the couple is blessed with children that committed love extends to their offspring. This is very similar to how love is extended to the congregation of the church in the priesthood.

However the lifestyle may be, love is always the center of the calling. Love is God and God is love! Christ's love is deeply rooted in each of these vocations. ...Although I have yet to mention the calling of a single life. The single life is another type of vocation, but I feel that it is a rare one. Maybe not, but I haven't met that many people called to a single life. Most of my single friends are like myself, waiting for that right person to love in a married life. However, single life is definitely another option for a vocational calling. Some choose to commit their virginity to God during their entire life on earth, like St. Philomena. Others may have been married once, but were widowed, like St. Rita of Cascia.

I like that St. Rita actually lived all three vocations. As a young woman she was married and had children, embracing the calling of marriage. Later, her husband and children died from a terrible disease. As a widow she lived a single life for a while. Then she became a nun in her older age and died peacefully in the religious life. Although she had many hardships, how beautiful it is for her to have lived all of these different vocational callings? She is a great example to anyone who desires to love God with their life and vocation!

I remember feeling called to my vocation a long time ago. When I was given the Sacrament of Confirmation, during my sophomore year of high school, the bishop blessed me with holy oil. During his blessing he looked at my name tag and saw I was taking the name of St. Anne, the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. It was then that he said how I would one day be a great mother, just like St. Anne. It dawned on me that I truly do feel the call to marry and have children. I would love to be a mother someday! However, this call to love must come with patience. Before I can be a great mother I have to wait for the great man God has planned for me to be with. You have probably heard the phrase, "all good things come to those who wait." This calling to love is a love worth waiting for! Waiting for love doesn't only happen within marriage, but also in religious life. A man entering the priesthood must wait years and years before he is ordained with Holy Orders.

This reminds me of the first description of love in 1 Corinthians 13. Saint Paul writes, "Love is patient."  Just think about...he could have put love is patient much farther down on the list of his description. However, he writes it as the first account of love. Without waiting, without having patience, love cannot truly exist. Think about how Christ waited three hours on the cross in indescribable agony just to die for us! It was a big sacrifice but He did it out of true love. ...So like I said before, it may take years to finally live out a personal vocation, but it is totally worth it because your vocation is a love worth waiting for.

Below are two of my favorite songs about love that I wanted to share with you. The first is called "Hide Your Love Away" by the Anthem Lights. This is an amazing single about waiting for marriage! My friend Rachel had shared it with me on Facebook a little while ago and I can't thank her enough for that. The other is called "Plan on Forever" by Dana Glover and Mervyn Warren. I first heard this song on the movie called The Wedding Planner and fell in love with it! I hope these tunes will touch your heart the same way they touched mine. God truly loves you and He wants you to find your happily ever after, according to His own good plan and His own good time. Amen!

            

Let Go & Let God

"I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry." - Psalm 40:1

Hello dear friends in Christ. Happy Solemnity of the Holy Trinity! Today I'm going to continue talking about patience, but this time in the context of specifically waiting for your future spouse. Ladies, if you are a young Catholic woman, seeking a man of the same value, who will uphold your dignity and self-worth...this post is meant for you to read. :)

Late last night one of my good girlfriends came over to visit. We talked about maybe going to the mall or a movie in the evening just to get away and catch up. However, we stayed at my house and talked in my room for probably three to four hours straight. Seriously, it was a great heart-to-heart discussion I really needed. We talked about everything...from school, to work, to our faith, and boys. But most of what we talked about revolved around waiting for the right person to come into our lives, at the right time, and at the right moment.

Do you remember the movie, Field of Dreams? "If you build it, he will come." We discussed how important it is to build a life centered around Jesus and trusting Him to bring you the man of your dreams. Someday your prince will come, ladies. It is just a matter of God's timing and trusting His Will. Rushing into something, like a relationship, that is not centered on Christ or founded in the same faith can lead to serious problems down the road. Sometimes it is hard to believe that there are any good Catholic young men left out there. Even though the ones I've seen want to become priests, I'm sure there are some holy men just waiting to find us good women of faith.

It is surprising though that out of my ten closest girlfriends only three are in a relationship now and four others have never been in a relationship. Even the ones that are dating are not dating Catholic men. They are just Christian. So I'm wondering how on earth all of these beautiful, holy, pure women of God can't seem to find beautiful, holy, and pure Catholic men. Why is it such a struggle? And why do we always keep asking ourselves where are they?

The fact is, God only knows where he is right now. He is out there somewhere, waiting for you... but the time you meet is completely up to God. And I've learned that you can't force it. If you try to and it's not the right time or it's not meant to be it either (a) won't happen or (b) you'll end up with the wrong person.

I haven't been in to many relationships myself. But I have learned a lot from my friends and their mistakes. Let me remind you...it is not quantity that you are trying to find, it is quality. Who cares if you've only had two or three boyfriends... or none. You only need to find one! I know girls who get into relationships all the time and just end up having their heart broken over and over again. You would think they would see the pattern, huh? But instead they keep doing the same thing hoping for different results. What is happening here, is that they are trying to control the situation instead of handing it over to God and waiting for Him to make their dreams a reality.

I found this quote the other day that really caught my eye. It says, "Timing is so important! If you are going to be successful in dance, you must be able to respond to rhythm and timing. It's the same in the Spirit. People who don't understand God's timing can become spiritually spastic, trying to make the right things happen at the wrong time. They don't get His rhythm -- and everyone can tell they are out of step. They birth things prematurely, threatening the very lives of their God-given dreams."

My good friend Taylor, who is a dancer, responded to this by saying, "Yeah that is very true! People rush things too fast in life instead of just letting them happen. Have faith that He will take control... His plan is always bigger and better. So don't try to create something that wasn't in His original plans." This is a perfect example of how you should just let go and let God. Let God work in your life. Instead of trying to seek out your own plans and force something to happen that shouldn't be, just don't worry about it and give it to God. Give God the desires of your heart. He knows that you long for a holy Catholic man...and He will answer you according to His own good time.

For as we all know, the first part of love is patience. "Love is patient, love is kind." 1 Corinthians 13 ❤