Today we are talking about MAKING TIME. Our priorities become clear when we look at what we choose to give our time to in our day-to-day lives. What is important to you to make time for? What should you make more time for? You can find all the themes here. We are happy to announce today the themes for the month of August! They are: August 6: TRANSFIGURATION August 13: SAYING GOODBYE August 20: DISCERNMENT August 27: POWER OF PRAYER Welcome to the #BISsisterhood link-up. Every Thursday, we get together as one community to share our hearts. Here's how you can participate: Link-up a post that goes with the weekly theme. Share your thoughts of the theme on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using #BISsisterhood so we can see each other's posts. Comment below with your thoughts on the prompt. Basically, let's talk to each other. Remember to use #BISsisterhood so we can all communicate well with each other out in the social media world. [bctt tweet="The #BISsisterhood link-up is where it's at. I just added my post here:"] Here is the button to our link-up that you are more than welcome to place on your blog, share on your social media, and/or save for a rainy day.   An InLinkz Link-up

In order to make the house run and my sanity stay locked in place, I have systems and more systems. I have routines. I have check lists. I have long days here at the house. My husband has long office days, and a long commute home usually in poor conditions. Date nights are averaging once per year since breastfeeding babies, snow, deployments, and utter chaos are the norm. In all the daily hum-drum, our marriage was getting buried. How was I supporting my husband? Was he struggling? Some days, I really could not have told you where he was emotionally or where I was. I just knew we were not there together. We started praying together. It was a random new year's resolution to "pray more". I would whip out my tablet and find the daily reading or click on Divineoffice.org. He would join me every now and again mentioning that he enjoyed the decompression time. Eventually, it became a habit to find each other before bed and pray. It's funny how quickly those minutes added to our love for each other. Even after a rough day, we sought each other. I was more likely to think better of my husband's actions seeing them without a filter directed towards hurting me. My anger dissipated quicker knowing that he too was struggling. More and more time was stolen for each other. Those quiet subtle moments of prayer so much like Christ's were bringing us to truly becoming one. In Genesis, it is written: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh” (2:24). The phrase "become one flesh" used to leave me feeling smothered. I felt that I was not enough alone--my wants, my desires, and my needs were being pushed aside. Now, I see that becoming one with my husband, spiritually, increases my capacity to be happy, contented, fulfilled. Christ gave me this man to teach me how to love more than myself. He gave me my husband in order for us to walk alongside each other into Christ's embrace. Often times, we hear about emotional intimacy or physical intimacy for our marriages, but what about the state of the spiritual intimacy in our marriage? We can learn a lot about our spouse from praying with them. In the sacrament of marriage, we are here to uplift, support, and lovingly challenge each other to holiness as we draw sanctifying grace. Finding those five or ten minutes, will lead to a deeper participation in the life God has planned for you as a couple. photo by Corynne Olivia Ashley is a stay at home mom and military wife who moves around with her husband of seven years. She love to chronicle the everyday adventures searching for grace amidst the chaos of four children, two dogs, a cat, and a training schedule.

Grace. His grace is sufficient for all of our cracks. This week, Erin McKenna Nowak created our wallpaper on today's second reading, 2 Corinthians 12:9. My grace is sufficient for you. Grab it for your phone and desktop below! Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

Today we are talking about FREEDOM. "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1 Christ died for our freedom -- He died so that we may be free from sin and free to choose what is good so that one day we may enjoy the joys of heaven! Where in your life are you grateful for the gift of FREEDOM? You can find all the themes here. Welcome to the #BISsisterhood link-up. Every Thursday, we get together as one community to share our hearts. Here's how you can participate: Link-up a post that goes with the weekly theme. Share your thoughts of the theme on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using #BISsisterhood so we can see each other's posts. Comment below with your thoughts on the prompt. Basically, let's talk to each other. Remember to use #BISsisterhood so we can all communicate well with each other out in the social media world. photo by Madi Myers-Cook [bctt tweet="The #BISsisterhood link-up is where it's at. I just added my post here:"] Here is the button to our link-up that you are more than welcome to place on your blog, share on your social media, and/or save for a rainy day. An InLinkz Link-up

“The greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing women that they looked better in their makeup.” // Mackelmore I’ve never had perfectly clear skin; therefore, I’ve done everything I can to strive for that perfection. Washing my face. Going to the dermatologist. Getting prescription after prescription. Benzoyl peroxide. Clean and clear. Proactiv. You name it; I’ve probably considered using it. I started using makeup in the 7th grade and it’s become a crutch ever since for pesky pimples which only ends up contributing more to the problem. One day, I got out of the shower and started looking at my skin. I had a few, new pimples and thought to myself, “I’m 19 years old and I’m seriously still self conscious about my skin? Well of course I am… acne was supposed to end AFTER puberty, right? Is Saint Rose playing a trick on me?” Saint Rose was a humble woman who chose to rub her face with pepper until it was red so that people would stop pursuing her. She had already given her heart to Jesus and had no desire to be admired in that way. I’m not Saint Rose, but I think what she was getting at was important. She knew she was beautiful and didn’t want to live her life in vain, so naturally she found the root of her vanity and avoided all sinful distractions. In a similar way, I knew I had to find the root of my vanity, too. Who cares if I had a few zits? After many frustrated phone calls with my mom complaining about how nothing ever works for me, I started thinking about my makeup. What if I didn’t wear it anymore? Staring in the mirror with my mascara in hand, I thought about it. I NEVER left the house without my mascara. Psh, over my dead body! It’s my staple makeup product. I LOVE my long eyelashes and it’s a total confidence booster. But what if I did something crazy? After 4-6 years of wearing it pretty much every day, what if I gave it up? The average person probably wouldn’t. But like Saint Rose, I was willing to give my heart to Christ, maybe not in the same way, but still significantly. I knew I had a problem when I would wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say, “Hmm…not good enough. Blush would make me look better. Maybe just a little lip gloss…that would do the trick.” But here’s the thing: It’s the work of the devil to be able to look at yourself straight in the eye and completely miss out on seeing all the hard work and time that God took in creating you. I think that far too many gorgeous women are missing out on noticing their innate God-given beauty, too. We’re missing out on seeing ourselves in His image and likeness, and for me, this needed to be corrected. So I gave up makeup for Lent. For 40 days I didn’t put anything artificial on my face. At first it was difficult because I was still having a tough time believing that I was beautiful without the foundation to cover up my “imperfections.” I still had difficult conversations on the phone with my mom. I had good days, I had bad days, but I ended up surprising myself. Overall, I felt fantastic. Sure, I would get a few pimples here and there. It was difficult to stare at them and not do anything to make myself believe that they’re not there, but then it became easier to actually embrace them. It became easier to love myself regardless of what was on the outside. I started to love myself for what was on the inside. I was becoming more authentically myself. Not far into Lent, I also started giving up straightening or curling my hair for long periods of time, too. I loved getting an extra 30 minutes in the morning to sleep in and then walk to the Chapel to say Morning Prayer with Jesus before my 8AM class. Nothing was more rewarding. I was becoming more spiritually-engaged and my heart felt less tied down to created things. I was focusing more on the here and now; rather than looking in every mirror I walked by to make sure that I still looked okay. I didn’t care what people thought. I knew that I was beautiful. I didn’t need anyone or anything to reaffirm within me what God had already said hundreds and hundreds of times to my soul. I wasn’t listening until now, but I’m sure glad that I did. And guess what else? My face cleared up like never before. For a majority of those 40 days I was glowing inside and out. I started to receive random compliments like, “Kait, you’re just so beautiful.” And also from people who knew my penance, “You never needed makeup to begin with,” or “If one person can pull off the ‘no makeup thing’ it’s you.” I really found Christ speaking to me in these people. My heart wasn’t chained down like it used to be. During Lent I went on a retreat and one of the verses that we meditated on was Isaiah 43. In Isaiah God speaks saying, “I have called you by name and you are mine…You are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you.” What else do we really need? How much more affirmation can we receive? The God of the Universe does not need to be corrected when molding His beloved. He further goes on to say in Isaiah 45:11, “Shall the clay say to the potter, ‘what are you doing?...Do you question me about my children, and tell me how to treat the work of my hands?” Ladies, you heard our loving Father. We are the work of His hands. We are beautiful. We are precious. We are honored. And we are loved. Let no one tell you otherwise, especially not yourself. [bctt tweet="We are beautiful. We are precious. We are honored. And we are loved."] I pray that you may always look in the mirror knowing that you are a beautiful daughter of God regardless of how you look. Your so-called ‘imperfections’ do not define your worth. The one who has exalted you and has written your name in Heaven is the One that you should be listening to. Because after all, the enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. (John 10:10) But Christ has come to reaffirm new life within us so that we may have it to the full. If you struggle with self-image even in the slightest and are dependent on makeup to fix what doesn’t need fixing, chances are you need to be reintroduced to your true beauty, too. Easter morning I put on mascara again, and I highly disliked the feeling because I could feel negative thoughts creeping back into my head that I hadn’t heard in over 40 days saying, “You look better now,” which in this context is a prime example of a thought that does not come from God. From this experience I realized many things, one of them being that in the future I will continue my daily routine without packing on the makeup. Getting at the root of my vanity and my sin ultimately freed me from hating myself, which is the exact thing the devil tries to do. He tries to get you to hate your beauty. He hates women and he hates our God-given beauty. I beg you, please don’t give in to his voice. Remember at the beginning when I said that I would do anything to strive for perfection in clear skin? I realized the trick. I’ve figured out the age-old mystery to acne. Here it is: I didn’t have to do anything. And truly, neither do you. You are made perfect. Simply be you. Rediscover how beautiful it is to know you. Be joyful in you. [bctt tweet="Simply be you. Rediscover how beautiful it is to know you. Be joyful in you."] I promise there’s nothing else more beautiful and cherished in God’s eyes. photo by Madi Myers-Cook Kaitlyn is a sophomore at Franciscan University in the Fall studying Theology. She has silly dance moves and is a big believer in God and iced caramel coffee. She loves to write, volunteer, and build up the kingdom of God in any way He sees fit. This post originally appeared on Catholicam Dominae.

This week's wallpaper was made by Meg Churray (follow her on Instagram) from a verse in today's gospel Mark 5:34 Daughter, your faith has saved you. How perfect this is for us! The gospel keeps saying, "just have faith, just have faith." Sometimes we doubt, sometimes we question, but Jesus is there to keep reminding us, "your faith will save you." Your faith has saved you. Get the wallpaper for your phone and desktop below! Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

Today we are talking about BAPTISM. Baptism is "the gateway to life in the Spirit". (CCC 1213) This gratuitous gift from God plunges us into the divine life, vivifying our souls with the gift of His grace. How has this gift touched your life? You can find all the themes here. Welcome to the #BISsisterhood link-up. Every Thursday, we get together as one community to share our hearts. Here's how you can participate: Link-up a post that goes with the weekly theme. Share your thoughts of the theme on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using #BISsisterhood so we can see each other's posts. Comment below with your thoughts on the prompt. Basically, let's talk to each other. Remember to use #BISsisterhood so we can all communicate well with each other out in the social media world. [bctt tweet="The #BISsisterhood link-up is where it's at. I just added my post here:"] Here is the button to our link-up that you are more than welcome to place on your blog, share on your social media, and/or save for a rainy day. An InLinkz Link-up

Converts to Catholicism have the reputation of being full of fire for God's Church. I am really no exception. I came to the faith in my late 20's after losing a baby through miscarriage. I was drawn to the Church both intellectually and emotionally. I was drawn intellectually because the Church takes a stand for the unborn. Unequivocally, it teaches that the life I was carrying was a real baby, not anything else. I was drawn emotionally because the Church validated my grief, and it had mechanisms to help me though that grief process. But underneath the emotions and the cognitions, there was something much richer that was calling to me. I was pulled by the Holy Spirit to come deeper into communion with Him. The relationship that started at my Baptism took on new meaning when I was in my darkest hour, as God wrapped me in His grace and pulled me into His church. I had been raised Christian, by two very Christian parents in a very Christian household. I was baptized as a baby by our Presbyterian pastor. We prayed before dinner every night and attended church every Sunday. From the third grade on, we attended a Congregational church. We did Sunday school, church camp and youth group. My mom and I sang in the choir, and my parents were active with stewardship, diaconate, and trustee boards. I loved getting dressed up for church each Sunday. When the weather was nice we would ride our bikes to church. As I got older, I increased my involvement. I directed the children's Christmas program one year. I took organ lessons and substituted once (it didn't go well). I got a job as the church secretary in graduate school and served on the search committee for a new pastor when our old pastor retired. I loved our the little traditions, like having church outside once a year. Rather than a normal service, it was a trivia day and I loved seeing how much these old people knew about the Bible! The church was more than a church -- it was a community. When I married a Catholic, many people thought he would start attending church with me and my family. The distance (and his proclivity to golf when he could on Sunday mornings) didn't make that realistic. We would go to Mass with his family or service with mine -- whatever fit with our schedules. We were mostly social Christians. In college, I didn't have much of a church life. I still saw my home church as 'my church', but I went to school in another state. I had a really rough patch that first year in college and I did a little church shopping. For the first time in my life, I attended a Catholic Mass. It was friendly, but not in the same way. There was no fellowship hour after service and considering the fact that it was across the street from a college, I was shocked by the lack of young folks at Mass. I was confused not knowing when to stand or sit or shake hands. Everyone seemed to know what to do but me. And yet, I felt a pull during the worship. It was the complete opposite of my home church. Here, it was all about the Mass and not about the people. I told myself that the draw I felt was in the depth of the tradition, the incense, the prayers. Knowing the worship had its roots in 2000 years of Church history was comforting to me. Summer came and I was happy to come home, get straightened up, and start dating my future husband. Fast forward about 10 years, and again, I was pulled to the Catholic Church. I wasn't Catholic. Oh, no. We just went to the Catholic church because it had the best sermons (I didn't call them homilies back then), a good selection of Mass times, it was close by, and my husband was Catholic. St. Matthew's was just our temporary church while we were out of state for my husband's work. And, then, the unthinkable happened. We lost a baby to miscarriage. Our little Lily. And for the second time in my life, I found myself in the darkness. I was lost and my husband brought me to our priest. I had shaken this man's hands after Mass. I had listened to his homilies. That was about all. I told him I wasn't Catholic, but he didn't care. We told him our story--Lily's story--and he listened. I cried, of course. Then, he asked me: "How do you feel right now?" My answer: "Like I am wrapped up in a warm blanket." The Holy Spirit was there, holding me, protecting me. I felt His presence. [bctt tweet="The Holy Spirit was there, holding me, protecting me. I felt His presence."] Why had I never before recognized that presence? In all my years of church attendance and worship and service, I had searched for that feeling, that comfort. It was what home should feel like. It was like my mom's hugs. It was like magic. No. It was the Holy Spirit welcoming me home. It was God's presence, in persona Christi. [bctt tweet="It was the Holy Spirit welcoming me home. It was God's presence, in persona Christi."] So I did what every nerd does, I started researching the Church. I stopped taking the Eucharist during Mass (yeah, I know I shouldn't have been taking it ever but I didn't really understand that), and started longing for it instead. Through Baptism, the Holy Spirit ignites a flame within each of us and that flame can be just a flicker or a raging fire. Sometime it is bright, sometimes it seems ready to extinguish. But for the baptized, that flame and God's grace is always there. The graces that are poured out in Baptism sustained me through my tough times even though I wasn't Catholic. The gift of Baptism helped me survive my more rebellious years and brought me back to His church when I was in my darkest hours. Baptism gives us an indelible mark--it wipes away the stain of original sin marking us as Christ's Beloved. Once we are His, He won't ever abandon us. I wonder what would have happened to me in the college years had I not been marked as Christ's Beloved. Being confronted with the evil I encountered, would I have been lost to drugs and drink? After the loss of Lily, would I have recognized the goodness around me or would I have hardened my heart? Would I have turned against my husband rather than allowing myself to lose my grief in his love? Recently, our dioceses started confirming children at the same time that they receive 1st Holy Communion. The change was in large part in response to the growing need our youth have for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in such difficult times. These sacraments, that outsiders often see as pomp and circumstance, are more than symbols. They are nourishing, they are sustaining, they are life saving. And it all starts with Baptism. As parents, the best gift we can give our children is a foundation in our Faith. Baptism doesn't make our children spiritually bullet-proof, but it does provide them with certain armor. They will choose for themselves whether to follow Christ or not. They will decide if they agree with the truths of the Church. They will commit to the tough life of a follower or maybe fall away from the Faith. But baptizing them as babies gives them the initial relationship with our Lord. It gives them a start, an introduction, and a place to come home to when they are lost and afraid. I am eternally grateful to have found my way back home. Read more about my conversion here and Lily’s full story here. MaryRuth is a wife and mamma to four little saints in the making. She weaves together research on child development and practical Catholic parenting on her blog, Parenting with Peer Review.

“The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism.” (CCC 1250) The priest did not simply sprinkle our sleeping daughter’s head. He cupped both hands and thoroughly baptized the little girl. She jumped with the first pile of water and slept through the rest. She did not give her consent. She did not make a profession of faith. She was barely even aware of what was happening to her. Forgiven of all sins. Made an adopted child of God, a “partaker of the divine nature.” Given the grace of justification. Enabled to believe and hope in God. Given the power of the Holy Spirit. Made a member of the Church, Christ’s body. Configured to Christ. Marked with the seal of the Lord. Reborn. According to the Catechism, all of these gifts of grace—and more—are bestowed on a person in baptism. They are given to a baby who is not even a month old, who sleeps through the entire liturgy, and who can not consciously ascent to the faith stated in the Apostle’s Creed. This is sheer gratuity. I grew up in a Protestant Evangelical church that practiced credo baptism and I was baptized around the age of nine after professing my faith in Jesus. Having come now to the Catholic Church, the magnanimity and the overwhelmingly generous nature of the sacraments—particularly that of Baptism—bring me often to quiet wonder. That God would choose to bestow upon a tiny baby the fullness of forgiveness and grace through the means of water doesn’t make sense to our rational human minds. But that is precisely who God is and I have never seen Him more than when I observe and participate in the sacraments. [bctt tweet="The generous nature of the sacraments bring me often to quiet wonder."] As I watched the priest baptize my daughter, I knew the grace of God in a new way. He welcomes us with open arms into His Church long before we can choose to know and to love and to obey Him. He first loves us and makes us fit to love Him. We are made children of God. We are given the fullness of divine life. We are united to Him. We are made able to love Him. I could never do this on my own. My daughter can never do this on her own. So God invites her to the waters. He welcomes her into His Church through the graces of the baptismal font and He calls her “daughter.” She simply exists. Her parents bring her to the Church and ask great things of God. In Baptism, we see the glory of our adoption. [bctt tweet="In Baptism, we see the glory of our adoption."] And in every Liturgy, He invites us to remember our own baptism. Remember your baptism. Those words run through my head often and I wonder what they mean. Our baptisms graft each of us to the vine of Christ, so remembering our baptism includes celebrating the glorious gift of adoption into the divine life. It also means living in a manner worthy of the grace we are given. As the baptismal liturgy so beautifully prays, we are to “walk as children of the light,” keeping the “flame of faith alive,” so that when the Lord comes, we may “go out to meet Him with all the saints in the heavenly kingdom.” Remembering our baptism means living fully in the life of the Church. It means taking hold of the graces offered as we face our daily crosses. It means claiming that grace for our walk and not despairing because of feelings of inadequacy or sinfulness. In baptism, we are gifted with every grace needed to take hold of the love of God so that we can grow and walk in holiness. [bctt tweet="Remembering our baptism means living fully in the life of the Church."] But it is not only up to us to remember our baptism. The beauty is this: our baptism also remember us. It follows us and marks us and claims us for Christ. It unrelentingly calls us back again and again to the graces offered there, when water washed away our sins and clothed us in Christ. It calls us and beckons us to return again to the blood and water that flowed from Christ’s side. It keeps us and holds us and asks us again to remember and celebrate the gratuitous gift of mercy. It calls, and we answer. Remember your baptism, for it remembers you. Shannon Lacy is a wife to a theology student and the mother of their first daughter. She is a recent convert to the Catholic faith.

In this week's gospel, Jesus says to the sea, "Quiet! Be Still!" (Mark 4:39) It struck me. I felt him saying that to me right in that moment. In my prayer, in my life, in my brain, I'm always running around and chattering away. But Jesus exclaims (those exclamation marks also stood out to me), Quiet! Be Still! Let this weekly wallpaper be a reminder to take some time to be quiet and be still so that Jesus can infuse us with his calming peace. I watercolored the wavelike image with inspiration from a Japanese wave design and hand lettered the verse. You can find more about work over at my site Be A Heart. Download for both your phone and desktop below. Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

Today we are talking about WORTH THE WAIT. "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him." Psalm 37:7 Sometimes God asks us to be patient and wait. But is our waiting full of disappointment for what we don't have or full of hope for what is to come? You can find all the themes here. Welcome to the #BISsisterhood link-up. Every Thursday, we get together as one community to share our hearts. Here's how you can participate: Link-up a post that goes with the weekly theme. Share your thoughts of the theme on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using #BISsisterhood so we can see each other's posts. Comment below with your thoughts on the prompt. Basically, let's talk to each other. Remember to use #BISsisterhood so we can all communicate well with each other out in the social media world. photo by Morgan Sessions [bctt tweet="The #BISsisterhood link-up is where it's at. I just added my post here:"] Here is the button to our link-up that you are more than welcome to place on your blog, share on your social media, and/or save for a rainy day. An InLinkz Link-up

I can wait to get married. There I said it. As a 20 year old woman in college, I watch as many of my peers happily get hitched or find their beloved. And yet, here I am, at 20 years old, boyfriend-less with no future husbands in mind to even consider. Never been on a date, never even been kissed. Yet, I decided for myself a long time ago that whenever I did start dating, I would date with marriage in mind. I was never one for dating for the fun of it. I saw from my early teens a lot of relationships take off, and I saw at lot of them crash and burn. And while I know dating itself will never be the perfect experience, I am willing to wait. For when my attraction for another begins to transform into a lifestyle of learning to love fearlessly. For when my heart is not governed by lust but by love. Yes, I am willing to wait. Here's the thing about waiting: it will cost you. I'll be the first to say it. There are going to be days when you want to just settle for any random person that walks in front of you. Or days when you just want to write your number on business cards and stick them onto the cars parked on your college campus. You will get frustrated. You will never speak of the cursed "S" word that Beyonce so blatantly sings about. You will roll your eyes at your peers' PDA with their boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse. You will list reasons of why you are single, convincing yourself that God must have forgotten to create special someone for you. You will rant, you will scream, you will cry, you will feel miserable. Am I painting a pretty picture yet for you? But at the end of the day, though, I have come to realize that this is a small, small cost. When I think of dating with marriage in mind, I think of the Christ and the Cross. The beauty of marriage is that it symbolizes the love Christ has for the Church, a love that is unconditional. [bctt tweet="The beauty of marriage is that it symbolizes the love Christ has for the Church: unconditional."] His love was so deep that He risked Himself for us. He loved us with an absence of fear and a presence of joy. It cost Him everything, and He gave it all willingly. This image is exemplified in the sacrament of marriage. When a couple says the words "I do," what they are truly saying is "I love you, I give myself to you, for as Christ loves His Church, I love you." This right here is a beautiful statement, one where the husband and wife devote themselves not just to each other, but to Christ; they boldly proclaim they will not FEAR to love. That's some powerful stuff there. For that very reason, I do not take dating and marriage lightly. If I am to someday get married (my mom has her fingers crossed here), I hope that I will not settle, but rather that I will fight for the best love that God has for us, a love that is limitless and is so strong that it will risk everything to love another. Because that is the love of our Savior. [bctt tweet="I will not settle, but I will fight for the best love that God has for me."] And if the Sacrament of Marriage, and the act of dating is supposed to lead us to love -- this being the greatest love -- then I can wait. I won't rush into blinded lust. Like fine wine, I will let this love get better and better with each coming year. I will love myself, love others around me, love Christ, and in doing so my love will attract the greatest love of another. I will wait. And though it will cost me to wait, I will remain firm because in waiting, my desire to love another will grow, and my heart will be strengthened. So future hubby whoever you are: I am waiting. Waiting with a joyful heart. photo by Susana Starbuck Vanesa is a Theology major with a Business minor at Providence College (Providence, RI). An avid coffee drinker and lover of all works concerning St. Thomas Aquinas, she is also a Youth Leader at St John the Baptist. She blogs at The King's Beloved.

I marry my fiancé, Steven, in 95 days. Wow. For part of our relationship, Steven and I lived in seperate states. I worked as a campus ministry intern in Virginia, while Steven was working as an accountant in Ohio. When I moved back to our lovely home state, many people assumed Steven and I would move in together. After all, we were pretty sure we were going to get married, so why not save on rent? We could spend this whole “getting to know you” process as roommates and figure out if we were really meant to be. Yet, for Steven and I, living together before we got married was not an option. Sure, I might have saved some rent money these past few months, but as we get ready to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, we are realizing just how much we gained by waiting to share an address. Falling in love was beautiful. For the first few months of our relationship we were continually going on fun dates. He swept me off my feet at the Cleveland Art Museum, completely wooed me at the Cleveland Aquarium, and treated me like royalty at our dinner in Little Italy. For our first Valentine’s Day he even brought me chocolate-covered strawberries -- the way to my heart. Of course, the honeymoon stage eventually faded. Steven learned that although I look very clean and organized, it is just because I hide the mess in my closet. I am always early or on time, while Steven is always running a standard 10 minutes late. I learned that Steven is incredibly athletic and works out 5-6 times a week, while I would rather do a 30 minute exercise tape once every few weeks. These are just a sampling of the differences and weaknesses we have discovered in each other after our three years of dating. However, when Steven got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, I knew that he was choosing me — lack of fitness and messy closet included — and he knows that when I said “yes,” I was choosing him, even if that means that we might be a few minutes late when we leave the house. If we had already been living together, in the back of my mind I would wonder if Steven was asking me to marry him because he had gotten used to having me around. I would wonder if I said yes because I was afraid of being alone or having to open jars by myself. In 95 days, when I walk down the aisle, there will be no doubt in my my mind that Steven and I are freely choosing marriage not because we had settled in as roommates, but as two people who freely chose marriage as our vocation. Following the law of God is not always easy, but learning to practice this form of self-control before we marry has given me confidence in our ability to practice self-control within our marriage. When we are unable to be together for whatever reason — a retreat weekend or a work conference — we know the other is capable of being on their own, even if it is tough. Living apart gives us the freedom to have tough conversations: our plans for the future, how we will handle finances, our desire to have children, fears about marriage, and concerns for moving in together. The odds are ever in our favor. The divorce rate is much lower for those who choose not to cohabitate prior to marriage. And as someone preparing to walk down the aisle, I am confident that Steven and I are seeking lifelong covenant, rather than simply a living arrangement. Come our wedding day, my life will no longer be just about me. It will be about the holiness of my spouse and any children God blesses us with. I am so grateful that Steven and I have already started to strive for holiness with the living arrangement we have chosen. We will continue the journey to Heaven for the rest of our married life. This might mean not fighting over messy closets or me being patient when Steven does not manage to get out of the house on time. However, I am confident that I have found the one whom I am willing to sacrifice these next seven months of high rent for, because he is worth every second of the wait. He is worth every struggle we will face in marriage, because I have found the one whom my soul loves. In three months, I will be able to call him my husband and my roommate. I cannot wait for both. Mary is passionately Catholic and madly in love with Jesus Christ, her fiancé, social justice, flowers, pictures of wheat, rain, Saint Faustina, and Dorothy Day. She is a Catholic Youth Minister striving for holiness.

This weekly wallpaper is from Erica of Be a Heart is a play on a vintage botanical poster. The verse is this week's gospel acclamation leading to the parable of the mustard seed. The seed is the word of God, Chris is the sower, all who come to him will live forever. Erica said, "I wanted to paint the mustard seed parable so I researched the mustard plant that Jesus talks about in the gospel. It proved to not be the most straight forward answer. There was a bit of debate over, which plant Jesus was talking about. What I DID discover was really interesting and a good take away. The mustard seed is the tiniest of the seeds of the plants that grow in the geographical area they were in. Once the seed is in the earth, it grows larger than all the other herbs. It is in fact not a tree, but can grow into the size of a tree--surpassing all other plants of its kind. It does not do this with the help of human hands, but with something greater (ie sunshine). The kingdom of God grows from one that is above the human hand (ie God himself). I can't explain it all, but here is the interesting article. With that said, I was inspired by vintage botanical posters that show the seeds and germination of a plant. Out of a tiny seed that we can plant on this earth, Christ will sow a large kingdom." You can download these free wallpapers below! Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

Today we are talking about HEART. Passion, drive, love, life....a lot comes from this tiny organ (literally and metaphorically). You can find all the themes here. Welcome to the #BISsisterhood link-up. Every Thursday, we get together as one community to share our hearts. Here's how you can participate: Link-up a post that goes with the weekly theme. Share your thoughts of the theme on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using #BISsisterhood so we can see each other's posts. Comment below with your thoughts on the prompt. Basically, let's talk to each other. Remember to use #BISsisterhood so we can all communicate well with each other out in the social media world. photo by Elissa Voss [bctt tweet="The #BISsisterhood link-up is where it's at. I just added my post here:"] Here is the button to our link-up that you are more than welcome to place on your blog, share on your social media, and/or save for a rainy day.   An InLinkz Link-up

We are so excited about this handpainted weekly wallpaper from Erin McKenna Nowak! Check out more of her beautiful work. It comes from today's Psalm 116:13- I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. It's Corpus Christi. We are reminded that we are given Jesus's most precious body and blood. Take and eat and bask in his endless love. Phone wallpaper Desktop wallpaper

Today we are talking about BEING LOVE. "At last I have found my vocation. In the heart of the Church, I will be Love!" // St. Therese of Lisieux Although we each have our own unique vocation, like St. Therese, we also are all commonly called to the vocation of LOVE. How does this play out in your life? You can find all the themes here. Welcome to the #BISsisterhood link-up. Every Thursday, we get together as one community to share our hearts. Here's how you can participate: Link-up a post that goes with the weekly theme. Share your thoughts of the theme on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook using #BISsisterhood so we can see each other's posts. Comment below with your thoughts on the prompt. Basically, let's talk to each other. Remember to use #BISsisterhood so we can all communicate well with each other out in the social media world. [bctt tweet="The #BISsisterhood link-up is where it's at. I just added my post here:"] Here is the button to our link-up that you are more than welcome to place on your blog, share on your social media, and/or save for a rainy day.   An InLinkz Link-up