The Four of Us

Our Amazing Story (The four of us)...

In

our day and age, the world sees news stories of of failed marriages and

heart breaking stories of the things people who are supposed to love

each other do to each other. In our time, when it seems impossible to

find a spouse of substance, great faith, dedication, and zeal for the

Lord, God answered our prayers and sent us amazing spouses. In our

century, that is unheard of. After spending time searching, to our

amazement it was God who was waiting for us to pray and ask. When it

was time, His plan was fulfilled.

It all began on January 16,

2004 with an email on Catholic Match, then called St. Raphael.net.

Strike that. It actually began earlier than that. Let me explain. In

October of 2003, I (Bryant), a former seminarian of St. Joseph Seminary

in Louisiana, decided to move in with Matt, then Director of Religious

Education (DRE) of St. Stephen Church. As roommates, we instantly

bonded, with our shared love of the theology of the Church and our

sense of humor. Unbeknownst to us, two sisters, Cheryl and Jane, moved

in with one another, in a house in Charlotte, NC, in October 2003. They

had grown up together, and after being away from each other for over a

decade, they were once again able to resume their relationship as close

sisters. All of us had been praying, especially to St. Raphael and our

Lady of Perpetual Help, to find a spouse.

And now, fast forward to January…

My

couisin started talking to my roommate and me, about a site she found

on the Internet for Catholic Singles. It was called straphael.net. I

was hesitant at first and my roommate wanted me to sign up before he

would venture in the world of the online singles. At the same time,

Cheryl and Jane’s mom, a third order Carmelite nun, started to do

likewise to them. On January 9, I got an email from Cheryl stating her

interest in my seminary experience. We exchanged emails for a few days

and on the 16th I called her cell phone with an enormous amount of

anxiety.

We talked for a little bit, and she commented that she

was on her way to her mom’s house in Buies Creek, which was close to

Sanford where Matt and I lived. I hinted at the possibility of meeting

up, and she said that was fine, but she wanted to bring her sister. Was

that okay with me? At first, I didn’t know what to say, but then I

remembered my roommate. I asked if it would be okay to bring him and

she said “Yes”. Much to my astonishment, when I got off the phone I

asked him if he wanted to go, and he agreed.

That night, we met

up at a pool hall called Local Joe’s. Matt and I were playing pool when

they walked in and at first, we did not recognize each other because

neither of us had posted up any pictures on our profile. But I

suspected the two when they walked in and began to search around. I

approached them, and asked them if they were who I thought they were.

They confirmed, but already were joking around with me as to who was

who. I had to admit that I was relieved to see that they had a sense of

humor. I introduced them to Matt and we proceeded to talk about God for

the next three hours straight, until two in the morning. It was one of

the most amazing nights of my life. At closing, we walked them outside

and said our awkward good-byes. They had mentioned the possibility of

going to Mass together the next night, but they never called to confirm

so we thought we had reached a dead end. On the drive home, Cheryl

& Jane were in quite a bit of shock. After all these years, of

running into dead end relationships and not being able to find anyone

remotely faithful and spiritually mature, they actually found two who

they are in sync with on faith, and they were quite attractive young

men.

Monday, Cheryl emailed me about how things went. I was

surprised to get the email and I emailed back that we had a good time

as well. We kept talking for two weeks and we decided to go on another

date, this time with Christ more involved. So Matt and I drove over to

Buies Creek to meet the girls and go to Saturday Vigil Mass with them

at a church neither Matt nor I had ever gone to. On the way to meet

them, Matt & I started talking about the Mass and how it used to be

in the Pre-Vatican II era. We reminisced on how the Hail Mary and St.

Michael the Archangel prayers used to be said in Mass and how great it

would be if they were brought back.

When we arrived at their

mom’s house, we met Emmie Turner, their mother, the third order

Carmelite. The inside of her house has more Catholic symbols than all

the churches of an archdiocese combined! It was awesome. We walked

around the room slowly (for fear of missing some relic we never heard

of) examining every book, statue and rosary she had. We were happily

amazed, and loving it.

After a few minutes of drooling at the

Catholic Store in disguise, we went with the girls to their church.

Sacred Heart was a quaint little church, nicely decorated and I liked

the feel of it immediately. The parishioners were silent in awe and

reverence, and the tabernacle was in the middle. (Yay!!!) During the

Mass, the priest actually said two things I had not yet heard said in a

Mass before: the Hail Mary and The St. Michael the Archangel prayers.

Matt and I looked at each other with each prayer said, and couldn’t

believe how God was working. We both knew then, that God was already

strongly in our midst on this date and the feeling of being blessed

never left me the whole night.

Afterward, we managed to squeeze

into a crowded restaurant, and had another awesome night of sharing our

faith and our experiences. We kept talking over the phone over the

course of the next two weeks until the next time we would meet up.

Because of the distance between us, meeting every couple weeks was a

good pace. We began to meet halfway (one-hour drive for both of us) for

our double dates. It was important for all of us to follow God’s

commandments and the distance gave us each a chance to really

investigate if the other person’s intentions was the same, because that

is what we were looking for: a diehard Catholic. As Father Corapi once

said: He would have the FBI out and searching if he were to get married.

The

girls’ mother has been preparing them for marriage since age 15. Their

mother taught them about the importance of finding a holy spouse and

having a holy marriage. She also used videos such as Father Corapi,

Mother Angelica, and various Saints. The girls also started going to

talks such as Theology on the Body by Christopher West. We were all

amazed that we all looked at marriage as a way to bring each other to

heaven. In knowing that, a great trust was formed. To love a person so

much to care for their soul, to desire heaven for them, was our goal.

In

February, I went to a retreat at Belmont Abbey with the girls (Matt

worked that weekend) and had a great time. As time grew on, it became

more and more clear that the four of us were meant to be together. This

became clear to Matt first. On March 29, 2004, only 2 ½ months after

they met, Matt proposed to Jane in Greensboro in front of the church he

found the Catholic faith in. The wedding was set for September 7.

Meanwhile,

Cheryl decided to move out of the house to give the about-to-be-married

couple a house of their own. So she bought a house…the one next door.

Matt and Jane married in September and visited lots of shrines,

cathedrals and such up and down the East coast for their honeymoon.

Finally,

it became clear to me in December, where I (quietly) proposed in front

of the Blessed Sacrament exposed at St. Gabriel’s Church. I felt only

appropriate to get our Father in Heaven’s blessing first. The wedding

was set for July 9, 2005 with Saint Gianna Beretta Molla as our wedding

patron saint. Once married, I moved in and now we are all next-door

neighbors!

We found spouses who have a great zeal for Christ,

but also a community of friends and family that we can go on retreats

with, eat lunches with, monks & nuns we know, have priests over for

visits, do rosaries together, and many other various Catholic things.

We enjoy visiting monasteries, going on retreats, going to adoration,

and reading many spiritual books. It is amazing to find even one person

who enjoys these things. Previously in our dating experiences, others

thought we were downright too religious, or crazy at our life’s

enjoyments. But we found two, and now we are four!

It is truly

amazing what God has planned for you when you ask, and say yes. We are

in the ages of 26-29 years old. Searching for friends of similar

natures has been found and to be blessed to find a spouse with such

faith for the rest of our lives is tremendous especially to know it is

heavenly blessed. We tremble to think of how awesome our Father in

Heaven is to even hear our prayers. We feel his presence and at moments

our eyes tear up to know he is truly present and holding us in the palm

of his hand.

Quite a story, huh? Never doubt the power of God. Keep praying and we hope your life will become as blessed as ours.

Peace in Christ,

Bryant & Cheryl and Matt & Valerie