"Happily Even After"

Faithful readers of "Gift and Mystery" will know well my dear friends Josh and Stacey Noem, and their children Oscar, Simon Peter, and Lucy - my goddaughter. The Noems have appeared regularly on this blog as we have shared the last eight years as MDiv classmates, colleagues in ministry, priest and parishioners, travel companions, partners in crime, and much, much more.

Well now they are (finally!) blogging themselves. I am delighted to direct you to "Happily Even After," their new blog hosted on the "For Your Marriage" website, which is an initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. I encourage you to bookmark and follow their blog, as you will see I have done on the sidebar. I suppose you might say that Josh and Stacey will be reflecting there, as I am here, on the 'gift and mystery' of God's call - in their case, to marriage and family.

The Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross state that we religious and priests "do not imagine that those who commit themselves in other ways to the following of Jesus are thereby hindered in their service of neighbor. On the contrary, we find in them willing and complementary partners in shared mission. We want our vows, faithfully lived, to be witness and call to them as their commitments, faithfully lived, are witness and call to us."

I give thanks to God for the faithful witness and friendship Josh and Stacey have given me as a priest, and pray that their blog will bear much fruit in their life together, and in the lives of all those who share their journey by reading along.