She Was Only On CatholicMatch For 24 Hours!
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In July of 2019, Ana, a native of Mexico living in El Paso, Texas visited the famous Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her prayer intention was for God to bring her true love. Though she felt reservations about online dating, wondering how a serious relationship could possibly result from going online, nonetheless she signed up for CatholicMatch the following day. She heard from her future husband Hector within 24 hours!
Hector was born and raised in El Paso. Though he and Ana both lived in the same town at the time they met, he reports that, based on the different parts of town where they lived and worked and how significantly the town is expanding, without CatholicMatch they would likely never have crossed paths! He himself had signed on to CatholicMatch several months earlier, but without any success to date was, in his words, “about to give up” when he came across Ana’s profile.
She didn’t have a good profile picture...
Though Ana didn’t yet have a good profile picture, Hector was struck by her “family values and her dedication to God.” He also appreciated that they were both working professionals, she as a media specialist at a school and he as a financial analyst. When she viewed his profile in return, Ana was impressed by his similar devotion to his faith and interested in his love for the traditional Latin Mass.
They bonded over meatlover’s pizza!
Just a week after their initial contact, Hector and Ana met for the first date. The couple talked for an hour and a half over meatlover’s pizza at a local restaurant. Ana commented, “It was one of those first dates where you leave already knowing the person.” Hector echoed, “We had good chemistry, shared a few laughs, and conversation flowed easily for both of us. It was quite surprising.” On August 11th, they made their relationship official.
Over the following months, the couple came to enjoy long conversations, cooking together, going to Mass and praying the Rosary together. They met each other’s families, including Hector’s mother (his father passed away when Hector was 16), and Ana’s mom, dad, and brother and sister.
By March of 2021, Hector knew that he wanted to propose. He visited a local Catholic jeweler who assisted him in customizing a topaz ring in keeping with Ana’s love of the color yellow. By May, the ring was ready, and on May 11th, Hector took Ana to pray the rosary at their now- parish, and proposed before the altar, underneath a picture of the Immaculate Conception.
A lovely June wedding...
The couple was married in front of friends and family from near and far during a solemn high Latin Mass on June 11th of 2022. Both Ana’s pastor and Hector’s pastor “tag-teamed” concelebrating the Mass. One priest had a sore throat, so he facilitated the marriage vows and the other priest prayed all of the Mass parts!
They have some beautiful family traditions.
Ana chose to incorporate a pin previously owned by her deceased grandmother, a woman of deep faith who had personally raised funds to build a church in her hometown in Mexico.
Hector and Ana opted for a churro cart as a sweet treat during their reception. Hector noted that paying the woman who ran the churro cart was their first joint duty as a married couple!
Living together was a big change!
After a whirlwind honeymoon to Orlando, visiting six amusement parks in just three days, the couple returned to El Paso to start their life together. Asked to share their reflections on married life, Ana answered, “It’s such a great feeling when you wake up and see your loved one next to you. It makes it all worth it!”
Hector shared, “On our wedding day, Father said to us ‘Hector, your job is to get Ana to Heaven. Ana, your job is to get Hector to Heaven.’ It’s true. We wake up, we say a few decades of the rosary, and then we pray again at night. We go to Mass and strive to make sure that Our Lord is in our daily thoughts and that we’re making time and space for Our Lord.”
Hector and Ana lived apart before their wedding day, and they shared their experience of the benefits of choosing to follow the Church’s teaching in this regard. Hector said, “When you’re in the excitement of courtship, passion is a wildfire and you have to learn to control it and rein it in. Now that we’re married, and have the grace of the sacrament, we have noticed that everything is now covered over with love, patience, with that sense of control of those passions. The passion doesn’t go away, it just matures. And so it’s worth waiting to experience that.”
Ana added, “[Living separately] was definitely a struggle…But my parents encouraged me that it was really important [to live the Church’s teachings on chastity]. Our parents were the key for us to stay strong and wait until our wedding day.”
The reason they chose to share their success story...
Hector said “One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to come back and testify to CatholicMatch was because it was an easy relationship. Sure, every couple has moments of discovery where you figure out how you’re going to overcome challenges or differences of opinion, but truly from the get-go, we had a good conversation on our first date. Everything kind of flowed from there. We were going to Mass even while we were dating, integrating the faith.”
He recalled, “The wedding was beautiful. Everybody who was there celebrated it joyfully with us. The planning is always a challenge, but we enjoyed every step of it. And truly we both believe that God had His hand in getting us together and really picking one for the other.”
Ana remarked on her gratitude that God heard her prayer at the Loretto Chapel and sent Hector to her. The couple plans to return to the Chapel soon to express their mutual thanks!
They both credit CatholicMatch for being the vehicle through which her prayer was answered.