Hi, everybody!
So, for those who don’t know me, I’m brother David, and I’ve been a Friar here at Sacred Heart Refuge for almost two years now. When the Lord called me to this mountain I had actually kind of given up on the calling to the priesthood and to religious life— and as the Lord loves surprises, He revealed that everything that He had promised me was actually waiting for me here on this mountain. And may God bless Mother Claire and Father Ezekiel for their faithfulness because, by their “yes” to God, they allowed me to say yes to God.
Pretty much upon arriving I was asked to be ordained to be a priest. I asked the Lord what His preference was for my religious name and out of the Bible, I got David. Then on the day of my ordination, I heard Him say, “Of the Annunciation”. I had really wanted part of my religious name to be a devotion to Queen Mary, my Mother, as she’s been so instrumental in my walk of faith. So my full religious name as a Franciscan Oblate is Brother David of the Annunciation. And today is the Feast of the Annunciation, so it’s a wonderful time for me to connect with Mary and give thanks to her and especially to give my “yes” to God.
Sister Mary Catherine:
Hey guys, I’m Sister Mary Catherine and today is a very special day for me. Today is my 2-year anniversary with Jesus because on March 25th in 2020 I got saved and gave my life to the Lord, which is specifically the Feast of the Annunciation. Since that time, the Lord has truly been moving in my life. He not only made me, a priest last year but he also called me this mountain and I am also Nun of the Franciscan Oblates of Mount Carmel. On November 25th I took my vows as a Franciscan First Order and took my name as Sister Mary Catherine.
Brother David:
So, the interesting thing, and the reason why we’re both here in this video together, is that we discerned that the Lord was calling us to marriage. It’s amazing that our different paths took us both here, together. There was just miracle after miracle learning of God’s will for us that we would be married—so on January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany, we did get married. We have been very blessed in these last few months to enjoy married life together and being priests together and confess to each other and it’s brought us together in intimacy with each other and especially with the Lord to see how good he is.
The other reason we’re making this video, not only to celebrate Mary’s feast, is also to announce to everyone that we’ve been called by the Lord to actually return to Germany. We believe this has been all part of his orchestrated will for us for a very long time. So we will be departing very soon for Germany where we will have a mission which will be partly itinerant, partly hidden, but it will be essential for the Kingdom of God in Germany, and to push back the powers of darkness there and continue the good things that we’ve learned here, in Europe. Between me and Catherine—we both speak French, English, and German. So you can see on our (YouTube and Vimeo) channel, Queen Mary of Heaven, and the website, queenmaryofheaven.com, that we are doing our ministry in these three languages to try and reach as many souls as possible.
What we would like to invite you today to offer to the Lord on this Feast of Annunciation is your own “Yes”. If after your prayer and discernment you feel inspired to be a part of our journey and our efforts to build up the Kingdom of God in Germany, we are really looking forward to meeting everybody that wants to be part of this mission—and to be praying for us—and we know that God will share good fruits with you in your lives. So we pray for you that God will give you the strength to say yes and you will be a part of our family mission in Europe.
May God bless you and have a great Feast of Annunciation.
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