Yesterday, Gus invited listeners to come on and talk about Catholic converts who’ve inspired them. Many callers said their spouse was the inspirational convert in their lives, so Gus invites listeners who have spouses who inspired them to call in and talk about them.
Also, in today's edition of Friday w/the Fathers, Gus continues with St. Ambrose's Commentary on the Gospel of Luke. He also engages in his weekly Friday Prayer Time with listeners.
You had asked for folks who had someone come into their lives that inspired them to become more faithful. I would like to share our story. I tried to call in but your broadcast is not compatible with my time zone. I met my husband to be in November of 1973 in our Air Force recruiter’s office. I was home on leave prior to going to my first duty station. He was there to pass out information as our recruiter was down town at a meeting. I found out he was waiting to go to Basic and he would be there over Christmas. I asked him if he was nuts! Then I said I would write to him because Basic is a lonely place. We went out 2 or 3 times. We didn’t realize neither of us had our new addresses yet. I went to my 1st station; he went to basic. Once we got our addresses we wrote to the recruiter who in turn sent us each other’s addresses. We corresponded until May of 1974. My life was a mess during those months. One day my next door neighbor said she was going to church. I asked if I could go with and I did. The pastor gave an alter call and I went. I told God that I knew my life was a mess and that I also knew I couldn’t fix it on my own. I asked Him to get behind me and push and I’d make changes as fast as He could push me. During this time period my husband to be sent me an engagement ring which I sent back unopened. Shortly after which I made a great many changes in my life. (In 3 months I was made new in Christ. I wrote my husband to be apologized and asked for the ring back. He said, “NO, not unless I can put them on your finger myself” We both took leave at the end of May and went home. I cooked him dinner and we had a long talk about what my life had been like and what expectations we had of each other. He told me he could accept me just as I was and we became engaged. I learned he was a Catholic. I was raised with a prejudice against Catholics. I thought, “If I am going to marry one I jolly well ought to know what they believe.” I got a new room mate who was Catholic and she took me to Mass daily. I met her friends at Mass and they invited me to a Catholic Charismatic prayer meeting. I had never encountered The Holy Spirit like that before. At that time I was estranged from my family and these people sort of adopted me. They became for me Mom and Dad, Aunties and Uncles, Grandparents, and brothers and sisters. All of a sudden my old friends were gone, my new friends stood by me and cared for me and loved me, and taught me the Catholic faith. On September 14th, 1974 I married the most wonderful man I ever met. He has loved me as Christ loves His church, even in spite of my faults. This September we will celebrate 50 years of Holy Marriage. Now for the kicker. From November of 1973-May 1974 our only contact was through letters, from May 1974-September 1974 we wrote letters with a few phone calls. From September 1974-January 1975 we also wrote letters because 6 days after the wedding he left to his duty station in Germany and I did not know when I would see him again. For the record we have 3 biological children, we adopted and raised 2 grand children, 6 other grand children and 1 great grand child. Our parents thought we were crazy but once we hit 25 years they finally believed we would make it. What God has joined together let no man separate. As I learned about being Catholic my husband’s faith was reignited so that we became equally yoked. My husband serves alter and I have a blog on Facebook called, "Letters To My Dear Young Friends and I am a Catholic Daughter. I know this is long but I hope you can find a way to use it to encourage others. P.S. I became a Catholic at heart long before I became a fully papered Catholic. Due to our crazy life at that time I was unable to take conversion classes until I got to Germany. You know a thing is right when the blessings of Almighty God are so many you can’t count them. M.