When Alicia turned over the Taco Bell hot sauce packet, she saw the words, “Will you marry me" written on it. Patrick and Alicia had only known each other for six weeks when he popped the question.
Nothing was working out with the men she dated.
In April of 2013, Alicia got a message from Patrick. Seeing his message made her nervous. She had been involved with another CatholicMatch member, and it ended unexpectedly.
“He decided he was going to become a priest,” Alicia, 31, explained.
She met another guy offline and that also didn’t work out. “I remember feeling despair and I was at the stage where I was going to swear off men," she recalls.
“I was so down I said I didn’t care anymore and that I only needed God and my family and that’s it.
Then I happened to get the message on CatholicMatch from Patrick. I thought, 'What’s going on?' I hadn’t received a message in a long time."
Feeling hesitant about answering Patrick’s message, Alicia asked her sister what she should do. “Just see what’s going to happen. You don’t know what God has planned for you,” her sister advised.
A week after connecting on CatholicMatch, the couple, both from Ohio, agreed to meet in person.
They decided to meet in Alicia’s hometown—an hour’s drive from where Patrick lived. “He told me I could choose the restaurant, so I chose the best and the most expensive restaurant in town.”
Patrick, 34, adds, “When I saw her, I was blown away. She was gorgeous!”
It was a good thing he found her attractive because he was going to shell out a lot for pricey food. “He still talks about how expensive the restaurant was,” Alicia laughs.
“It made me cringe, when I saw the prices,” Patrick adds.
God spoke to us with overwhelming peace.
For their second date, Patrick and Alicia meet for Mass. “I have never experienced such a closeness to anyone in my life until we were at Mass together,” she shares. “I felt like it was the Holy Spirit. We both felt this connection and overwhelming peace and love. It felt right—like God was speaking to both of our hearts.”
When you know, you know, you know?
PC: Steven Depolo
After only being together for a month and a half, Patrick proposed. “He took me to these scenic gardens in Mansfield, Ohio. As we were walking along and enjoying nature, he handed me this hot sauce Taco Bell packet. I said, ‘What are you giving me this packet for?’ I turned it over and it said on it, ‘Will you marry me?’ Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.”
Patrick explains why he proposed so soon into the relationship, “I just knew I wanted to marry her. God was speaking to me. I didn't feel crazy asking so soon because I felt that God had finally answered my prayers.”
He adds, “I got the hot sauce packet from my nephew. He found the packet and suggested it.”
Alicia’s parents were surprised how fast the relationship was moving. “My parents were like whoa things are happening fast! But they knew we were both responsible adults and that we both had found a person who shared the same faith and morals.”
Boom, married.
After six months of Pre-Cana that reaffirmed they were a good match, Alicia and Patrick were married at Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio, on November 23, 2013.
“I can't remember all the details because I was very young when my mother passed away, but she was healed there. I believe she left some kind of medicine behind because she didn't need it anymore,” he explains.
During the wedding, Patrick and Alicia presented roses to Mary as a way to remember Patrick’s mom and all of the family members that had died. “This was one of my favorite moments of the wedding,” Alicia shares.
Patrick says the whole day was his favorite part of the wedding. “I had been praying to find the woman God had made for me for a long time.”
Since the wedding Alicia and Pat have been blessed with three children—two boys and a baby girl.
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