About

Like many of us, the life I have today is absolutely nothing like the life I envisioned for myself even 5 years ago, and certainly nothing like my future vision of 10 or 20 years ago. All along the way, Jesus has never left my side. It just took me a while to realize it. Now I never want to forget that and I plan to help others realize that, too.

Education

• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• James Madison Memorial High

Favorite saying

• ""No, my children, we shall not find any sinner who may be converted who has not recourse to prayer, not one who will persevere without having very great recourse to prayer, and we shall never find a Christian damned whose downfall did not commence with a lack of prayer. We can see too how much the Devil fears those who pray, since there is no moment of the day when he tempts us more than at prayer. He does everything he possibly can to prevent us from praying." ~St. John Vianney "The holy rosary is a powerful weapon. Use it with confidence and you'll be amazed at the results." - St. josemaria Escriva "Meditate frequently on the sufferings which I have undergone for your sake, and then nothing of what you suffer for Me will seem great to you. You please Me most when you meditate on My Sorrowful Passion. Join your little sufferings to My Sorrowful Passion, so that they may have infinite value before My majesty" ~Jesus, 1512 † ‎"Why must we suffer? Because here below pure love cannot exist without suffering. O Jesus, Jesus, I no longer feel my cross when I think of yours." - Bernadette Soubirous, A Holy Life. ‎"Time spent in prayer is not lost. It is a time in which we open the way to life, learning to love God and His Church ardently, and to show real charity towards our brothers." - His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. The grain of wheat does not yield anything unless it suffers and decomposes; it is the same for the soul and for nations who need trials and sufferings so as to rise up purified and renewed. - St. Padre Pio "Suffering is the greatest treasure on earth; it purifies the soul. In suffering, we learn who our true friend is" - St. Faustina (Diary 342) "Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy." ~ C.S. Lewis "The proud are those who have not the Holy Spirit. Worldly people have not the Holy Spirit, or if they have, it is only for a moment. He does not remain with them; the noise of the world drives Him away. A Christian who is led by the Holy Spirit has no difficulty in leaving the goods of this world, to run after those of Heaven; he knows the difference between them." ~ St. John Vianney "Total surrender to God must come in small details just as it comes in big details. It's nothing but that single word, "Yes, I accept whatever you give, and I give whatever you take." And this is just a simple way for us to be holy." ~Mother Teresa of Calcutta "The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done." ~Mother Teresa "In order to hear the voice of God, one has to have silence in one's soul and to keep silence; not a gloomy silence but an interior silence; that is to say, recollection in God". ~St. Faustina [† Faustina, 118] "The courage that counts with God is that type of courage which our Lord showed in the Garden of Olives: On the one hand, a natural desire to turn away from suffering; on the other, in anguish of soul the willing acceptance of the chalice which his Father had sent him." -St. Therese of Lisieux "Christ does not force our will; he only takes what we give him. But he does not give himself entirely until he sees that we yield ourselves entirely to him." -St. Teresa of Avila ‎"Do not grow conceited if you shed tears when you pray. For it is Christ who has touched your eyes and given you spiritual sight" ~St. Mark the Ascetic † "Let nothing disturb thee. Let nothing affright thee. All things are passing. Patience obtains all things. He who has God has everything. God alone suffices" ~St. Teresa of Jesus † The best means of guarding yourself againt temptation are the following: watch your senses to save them from dangerous temptation, avoid vanity, do not let your heart become exalted, convince yourself of the evil of complacency, flee away from hate, pray whenever possible. St. Padre Pio The devil is like a rabid dog tied to a chain; beyond the length of the chain he cannot seize anyone. And you: keep at a distance. If you approach too near, you let yourself be caught. Remember that the devil has only one door by which to enter the soul: the will. There are secret or hidden doors. St. Padre Pio "O Miserable state! We retain a vivid remembrance of those insults which we receive from our fellow men, thereby fostering our resentment; but we do not bear in remembrance those insults which we have offered to God thereby becoming humble and exhorting ourselves to repentance. What wonder that we do not become humble, if we remain oblivious to these urgent motives for humility." Fr. Cajetan "He who forgets himself in the service of God may be assured that God will not forget Him" ~St. Ignatius of Loyola † Prayer means a launching out of the heart towards God; it means lifting up one's eyes, quite simply, to heaven, a cray of grateful love, from the crest of joy or the trough of despair; it's a vast, supernatural force that opens out my heart and binds me close to Jesus. ~St. Therese of Lisieux † Don't consider me too demanding if I ask you once again to set great store by holy books and read them as much as you can. This spiritual reading is as necessary to you as the air you breathe. + St. Padre Pio As the days pass, I see ever more clearly the greatness of God, and in this light, which grows brighter and brighter, my soul burns with the desire to be united to Him by indissoluble bonds. -St. Padre Pio My little children, your hearts, are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the souls and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun. -St. John Marie Vianney As gifts increase in you, let your humility grow, for you must consider that everything is given to you on loan. -St. Padre Pio The Risen One goes before us and he accompanies us along the paths of the world. He is our hope. He is the true peace of the world. -Pope Benedict XVI You cannot better appreciate your worth than by looking into the mirror of the cross of Christ; there you will learn how you are to deflate your pride, how you must mortify the desires of the flesh, how you are to pray to your Father for those who persecute you, and to commend your spirit into God's hands. -St. Anthony of Padua"