Hi Marcus,

Thank you so much for your willingness to participate in this interview!  I know the response to your video, which I shared in my post about Staying Vigilant, has been wonderful.  It sure seems like the Lord is calling you and Dianne to a powerful ministry.  We are all Thirsting for the Truth about sexuality, life, love and reason!

The goal of The Veil of Chastity blog is to share the power and wisdom of the virtue of Chastity.  As you know, Chastity is a life-long virtue which we strengthen in our single years and then go on to cultivate in the Sacrament of marriage.  My questions today have to do with your journey towards your vocation.

Hey Cindy,

Thanks so much for sharing my video and giving me an opportunity to address your readers. I am big on joining forces with other Catholics and Christians to do the work of the Church so I appreciate the opportunity. 

Q1:  I have this theory called The Veil.  Does this metaphor ring true for you, Marcus?  I am not asking you to endorse The Veil theory.  Instead, I am wondering if, when you met Dianne, something spiritual that happened in the way that you saw her?  Was this vision of her and way of seeing Dianne spiritually unlike any other girl you had ever met? Did it seem as if God ‘lifted a veil’ and that you were able to ‘see‘ Dianne in a way which you had never seen any other girl?

I have to say I’ve never heard a theory like yours before. I would definitely be interested in talking to you a little more about it to get a better understanding. My own opinion is that it’s hard to say if God destines us to be with a particular person, or a “soul-mate” (I assume the “holy spouse” is like a soul-mate?), but I’d never say “God couldn’t, or doesn’t, do that” because I usually end up wrong when I pretend to know the mind of God. 

I certainly did see Dianne in a way that I had never seen any other girl. However, I would have to say that my experience was that the scales fell from my eyes (as opposed to the veil being lifted from her). At the time I was very broken. I was dealing with some difficult issues and I did not have much of a relationship with God. I went to Mass each week out of habit but I had no faith life outside of my one hour on Sunday.

When I started experiencing some very dark days I decided to go looking for relief. I ended up attending something called an ACTS retreat. It was there at the retreat that I had my first personal encounter with God and that is also where I first met Dianne. Unfortunately, after the retreat was over I fell back into bad habits. 

After I had experienced the love of God in a real way I began to feel very guilty whenever I fell into sin. I was struggling to maintain my faith and kick bad habits. A year after my retreat I received a call from Dianne and she asked me to join a team to help coordinate the next ACTS retreat. It was at these team meetings that I then noticed Dianne in a different way. The reason I saw Dianne in a way that I had never seen any other girl was because Dianne was a true and authentic witness to the faith.

She was dedicated, wise, passionate, contemplative, and above all she was a true servant. She had a peace to her that I craved. She had an innocence about her that I felt I had lost. She was the type of girl that if you told her a dirty joke – she wouldn’t get it. I was the kind of guy, that, if you told me a regular joke it would automatically become a dirty joke in my mind. I saw in her the person I wished I was. 

Before I met Dianne I went after girls because I liked the way they looked physically. It was Dianne’s faithfulness to Christ and her witness to purity that caught my eye in a way no other girl had because up to that point I had never seen a girl with a faith like hers.

Q2. Here is the million dollar question: Did you ‘know‘ she was The One and if so, how did you know?

Honestly, our discernment was long and rigorous. We would sway back and forth between marriage and the religious life. We never “knew” anything. I know that sounds crazy but God never saw it fit to let me feel comfortable. After we were dating for a while and began to talk about marriage I hoped we were being called to marriage but it wasn’t until she decided to embrace the religious life and I decided to let her go that we both “knew” we were willing to give everything to God. 

I don’t think that marriage discernment is a matter of figuring out if that person is “The One”. I believe that you become sure in your vocation when you decide you are willing to sacrifice everything to do what God asks of you. When you give a complete “yes” to God – you have embraced your true vocation. We are all called to that kind of witness… we just all live it out in different ways (marriage, religious life, single life… etc).

Q3, Q4 and Q5 To be continued….

Next week I will share the rest of my interview with Marcus!

Marcus Guevara is the founder of Thirsting for Truth – a new ministry that empowers young adults to live courageously chaste and Catholic lifestyles. A native Texan, Marcus currently resides in the great city of San Antonio. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Masters in Cyber Security. Marcus became a serious and practicing Catholic in college after being introduced to the Theology of the Body and realizing the damages caused by a life of promiscuity and irresponsibility. He is joyfully married to Dianne, his bride of four years, and has two children, Elizabeth and John-Paul, and another child to be born in July 2014. You can watch Marcus’ powerful conversion story at ThirstingforTruth.com. Connect on facebook.com/ThirstingforTruth or Twitter @Thirsting4Truth

God love and bless you!

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