Before beginning the Women of Grace Foundational Study, I was grateful for the many blessings in my life. I had a devoted husband, a loving marriage of more than thirty five years, and three children who practiced their faith and tried to live as kind, committed Catholics. Still, beneath the surface, I carried worries I could not control. I often spent my time on things that left me feeling empty, and in a difficult season I failed to witness my Catholic faith as I knew I should. Yet in God’s mercy, even through my weaknesses, He gently led me to the Women of Grace Foundational Study.
Through this anointed study, Jesus reminded me that my most important identity is being a daughter of God. My love for my Catholic faith deepened, and I began to understand what it truly means to be a woman of grace. I learned to trust God, to pray with greater devotion, to root myself in Scripture, and to look to Our Blessed Mother as a model of virtue. As I reordered my life around God, I discovered a joy and peace I had never known. This formation reshaped every part of who I am. It made me a better wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, friend, and colleague. It transformed my life.
When the study ended, I felt set ablaze by the Holy Spirit. With the encouragement of my Sacred Sisters from my online group, I offered God my fiat and approached the president of Belen Jesuit Prep School in Miami, where my husband serves as principal. I asked if I could facilitate the Foundational Study for the school’s mothers. In God’s goodness, thirty women and two teachers completed that first study. Hearts opened, healing flowed, and many shared that the experience was truly transformative. Some returned to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in years. Others rediscovered pride in their identity as Catholic women. Many continued praying the Rosary together, consecrated themselves to Jesus through Mary, and even stepped forward to facilitate the study in their own parishes.
The ripple effect of one yes has been astonishing. Two mothers from that first group have already led a Foundational Study at their parish and are preparing to launch another. Three women from their group are now working to offer Young Women of Grace at the adjoining school. At Belen Jesuit, eleven mothers who completed the study are joining me to co-facilitate a new group this year. I now count thirty two Sacred Sisters from that first step of faith, and God continues to expand this garden of grace.
Looking back, I see that my journey began with the fiat of many spiritual mothers: Our Blessed Mother, who guided me through the Rosary to EWTN and then to Women of Grace; Johnnette, who created this beautiful study; the generous facilitators who encouraged me; and every woman whose witness strengthened my own yes. Their fiats prepared the way for mine, and now God is using my small yes to inspire new ones in others.
I have learned that nothing is impossible for God. As Johnnette often says, He does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called. My life is proof of that truth, and I pray that every woman feels the courage to offer Jesus her own fiat. One yes can open the door to peace, healing, and a joy that only He can give, and it can create ripples far beyond anything we could imagine.
-Teresita R
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