Jason, 26, from Hillsburo, Oregon, had been on CatholicMatch for three years before he met Alicia, 25. “I am a very shy kind of person,” he explained. “So I really don’t think I would have found someone without the use of CatholicMatch.”
When Alicia first popped up in his matches, he was impressed, but hesitant to reach out to her.
Alicia was born and raised in California. When Alicia was 17, she entered religious life for a few years as a missionary. “Although religious life is beautiful, I saw that it was not where God was calling me. The place where I personally could give Him the greatest glory was through the sacrament of marriage,” she said. “Thus my journey to find the man God wanted me to love and help bring to heaven began.” She felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to join CatholicMatch in the fall of 2014, and she was matched with Jason soon after.
While he was doubting that she was interested, Alicia was doubting that he was interested in her. He had everything she was looking for in a future husband, but it seemed to good to be true. “I thought maybe he was too good and he wouldn’t be interested in me,” she said.
When Jason read Alicia's profile he was intimidated. “Here was a good Catholic woman, yet she had so much detail about who she was and what she wanted that I thought she wouldn't be interested in someone as mundane as me,” Jason added. “A day or so later, I saw that she had looked at my profile as well. This gave me courage. I decided to reach out and contact her. I said to myself ‘I have been on CatholicMatch for three years and I won't get anywhere unless I try.’”
Alicia knew from the first message that it could get serious. She decided to take some time to reflect before responding to his questions. When she responded back to the questions, the two hit it off right away.
“I found out that we had a lot in common, not just our personalities and activities, but our background as well,” said Jason. “We both were from a family of nine; we both have four sisters and four brothers. Both have older sisters, who are the same age, named Amanda. We both were from the second pregnancy; both of our youngest siblings are 11. Furthermore, all of her brothers' names started with a J, so I thought I fit right in. However the breaking point was when I found out she had a grandfather whose birthday was on January first, same as mine. I knew then that she and I were meant to be.”
It only took 16 days for Jason to ask to meet Alicia in person. He wanted to visit in the first weekend of December 2014. As soon as he bought the plane ticket, he started counting down the days and minutes.
Alicia met him in the airport, and Jason could tell they were comfortable with each other right away. “One thing I will never forget is that smile of hers beaming up at me,” he remembered. The first thing Alicia wanted to do was bring him to the cathedral in Sacramento before meeting her family.
“Something that I remember about our first meeting was the kindness he showed me when I got lost because I was so nervous ,” she said. “But he was so patient, and that showed me what a kind person he was. It brought a beautiful peace.”
The first visit was spent with Alicia’s family, and Jason felt welcomed and at home. He visited a couple more times in January before they made the decision that Alicia should move to Oregon. Jason gave her his house and moved back in with his parents for the time being. He hadn’t proposed yet at the time of the move, but they knew it was the right choice. “Since then it has been a wonder and a joy to have the woman that I am going to marry to be only 10 minutes away,” Jason said.
He knew that Alicia wanted to get married on a day dedicated to Mary. “I also knew that Mary leads us to her son, so the only reasonable place for me to propose was right in front of Jesus,” Jason said. “A week after Alicia moved up here, I took her to Confession. While I was in the sacristy I had Father bless my ring. After saying our penance, I took her by the hand and led her up to the center of church at the Communion rail.”
Alicia wasn’t sure what was happening at first. “As he began talking about God and Our Lady and marriage, I was somewhat confused because I didn’t know where he was going,” she said. “It wasn’t unusual for us to talk about God, Our Lady, the Saints and the Church.”
But when he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring, there was no mistaking it. “I was speechless. I knew I wanted to say 'yes,' but I said a quick prayer while looking at him. I knew there was no other answer possible,” said Alicia.
Jason’s great aunts were in the church at the time and were giving him the “thumbs up” sign while he proposed. The two left the church and the parishioners clapped as they made their way out. “It was truly a blessed day and until our wedding day, it has been the best day of my life,” Alicia said.
They are getting married on December 12 on the Feast of Our Lady Guadalupe in the very church Jason proposed in.
