An uncommon vocation

Apr. 14—PLATTSBURGH — Mary Beth Bracy, 46, will marry Jesus Christ, immortal, Sunday at St. Peter's Church in Plattsburgh.

Her parents, James and Linda Bracy, as well as her siblings, friends, and family will witness Diocese of Ogdensburg Bishop Terry LaValley celebrate the Mass of Solemn Consecration to the Life of Consecrated Virginity Lived in the World for Mary Beth.

CONSECRATED VIRGIN

In the late 1990s from the time of her Confirmation onward, Mary Beth contemplated the possibility of a religious life.

"I looked at different communities and one of my friends, who was in the seminary to become a priest, had sent me this book by Father Thomas Dubay," she said.

"It mentioned different types of the consecrated life. For instance, in addition to nuns and sisters, there are also consecrated virgins who live in the world. There's also hermits and other types of consecrated life. I was immediately attracted to the idea of consecrated virginity."

Bracy had to finish high school and college first.

Life happened, and she helped take care of loved ones.

"It took a lot of prayer and discernment," she said.

"And thankfully, I had wonderful spiritual direction as well. When I read more about the spirituality behind it and the saints who were consecrated virgins, even just the prayers for the Mass and the celebration, it really talks about all of the beauty. One thing that attracted me the most is just the idea of being a bride of Christ. I just experienced God's love and I fell in love with Jesus and so I wanted to give my life to Him and others through Him."

BACK STORY

Mary Beth, number four, has three older brothers and one younger brother.

She grew up in Plattsburgh and has attended St. Peter's Church for most of life, though she made her First Communion at St. John's Church.

EARLY MEMORIES

Mary Beth remembers sometimes accompanying her mother to daily Mass.

"At that point, we were actually going to Our Lady of Victory Church," she said.

"Not far from there is a nursing home that used to be called Sacred Heart Nursing Home. So, my mom would bring me with her to daily Mass there sometimes, and I really loved it because after Mass we would help push the residents in their wheelchairs. I liked to help to do that."

Mary Beth remembers those times as really joyful.

"I was really impressed by the priests especially when people went up to Holy Communion," she said.

"I noticed that when people came back they looked so joyful and peaceful. I kind of wanted to experience that joy and peace as well."

PINT-SIZE EXHORTER

There was a spiritual flicker once upon a time in Arto Monaco's Land of Makebelieve in Jay.

"I remember going there when I was really small," Mary Beth said.

"I think I was no more than 5, maybe even younger. They had all these different houses or things where you could pretend what you wanted to do in the future.

"For some reason I went into the church. I don't know what I did. My older brothers were with me and my parents. I just kind of went up and started preaching at them. My brothers quickly exited, but my parents were kind of responsible for me so they had to stay. I guess I just wanted to share God's love with other people. I think that's what I talked about. I hoped that's what I talked about. I could have said something about how brothers should be nice to their sister."

Mary Beth attended Seton Catholic Central, Class of 1995.

From the 8th grade on up, she was interested in social justice.

"Then in high school that kind of continued," she said.

"I just felt like in addition to doing practical things to help others, there was really a need to feed other people spiritually and pray for them and to help them experience God's joy and peace as well."

After Seton, Mary Beth graduated from Empire State University and did post-graduate work at SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Buffalo.

Most recently, she completed a master's degree in apologetics from The Magist Center located in Garden Grove, California.

"I did that through correspondence," she said.

"I did it online. It's accredited through Catholic Distance University. It focuses a lot on the relationship between faith and science and faith and reason and basically how you can bring the faith into contemporary questions like what is the meaning of suffering or different ways to apply faith to real world situations."

WORK LIFE

For several years, Bracy and her mother ran the Peaceful Dove Shop in Plattsburgh. During that time, she worked several years as a teacher, predominantly at the high school level, with a dual certification in special education and English.

"A couple of years ago, I switched careers," she said.

"I became a copywriter. I was basically hired to read the manuscripts for the largest Catholic publishing company in the country. Then, I write the back jackets. I do press releases. I write articles. I also help with publicity coordinating like scheduling authors for interviews."

This career changed allowed her more time for prayer and meditation.

Bracy authored "Behold the Lamb."

"I had this idea that because I really loved music that it would be interesting to talk about one's relationship with God in the context of modern day song lyrics," she said.

"So the reflections in the book kind of intersperse modern-day song lyrics and reflections upon God's love for us.

Her second book, "Bread of Life," contains different inspirational quotes for every day of the year and personal reflections on spirituality.

Her third book, co-written with her mother, is "Stories of the Eucharist," which contains uplifting stories from the lives of Saints for children First Communion on up.

Her fourth book, "The Little Way to Healing Love Through the Passion of Jesus: The Stations of the Cross with St. Thérèse of Lisieux."

"She was from France," she said.

"She was from like the Normandy region. She was my patron Saint for Confirmation."

Mary Beth started publishing articles when she was 15 and continues to freelance online and for The North Country Catholic.

PREPARATION

The bride is 96 hours from becoming the second Consecrated Virgin ever in the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

"As far as practical preparation goes, the first step is you, after you've taken time to discern it, should have a spiritual director and talk with them about it," she said.

"The next step is to talk with a bishop and ask permission to apply to become a consecrated virgin. Then, you go through an application process. Some of the information in the application is kind of similar like any other application almost like a vitae or resume, so to speak."

Other information is more specific in terms of one's relationship with God, one's faith journey, and why one feels called to this particular vocation.

"You needed to have character references to speak to that and why this would be a good fit for you," she said.

Mary Beth met with Bishop LaValley, who she said was "very kind and supportive and encouraging."

"He put me in contact with a Religious Sister (Sister Mary Eamon), who was also wonderful and just a great support," she said.

"She kind of acted as his delegate in the process. The Diocese provided me with some work to do."

Mary Beth needed to complete a certain amount of coursework, hence her master's degree in apologetics.

Additionally, she audited theology classes through Augustine Institute based in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

"There was a whole list of suggested reading, for instance, things specifically about the vocation, but also general spirituality, like things like the Second Vatican Council," she said.

"There were different books on Scripture. My favorite one was on the 'Song of Songs.' I was also to make a retreat. So I went on an eight-day silent retreat. That was a transformative experience as well."

Throughout this process, Mary Beth met with Sr. Eamon and became acquainted with other consecrated virgins in the United States and globally.

"Sometimes, I would meet to pray with them virtually or just to talk and ask questions with," she said.

"So that was really helpful as well. Ultimately after I went on the retreat, I wrote a letter to the Bishop and I asked if he would confer the consecration. It's always a bishop that confers the consecration since apostolic times. There's a tradition for instance that says St. Matthew the Evangelist was the first to consecrate virgins. Some of the earlier Masses for the consecration of virgins, they used a blessing from St. Matthew."

The consecration prayer used during the Mass has been used since the earliest centuries of the Catholic Church.

"When you go to a Consecration Mass, the candidate wears a wedding dress, and the Bishop presents her with a ring and wedding veil," she said.

"It's really beautiful. When you walk in you might be like what am I at a wedding? Since the earliest days of the church, they believed it that the woman was becoming a bride of Christ. So that's why we have all of those insignia or signs or symbols."

Bishop LaValley will also present her the Liturgy of the Hours.

"Those are special prayer books that priests and the consecrated use, and even lay people also sometimes used them to pray with," she said.

"It's really the prayer of the Church. It's mostly consisting of Psalms, but it also has readings from Scripture and the earliest Christians, excerpts from some of the saints as well. We pray those a certain number of times day to help keep us united to God throughout the day as we going about our daily duties and occupation. As part of the prayer and special Mass said, we're supposed to pray without ceasing for the salvation of the world."

Mary Beth purchased her wedding dress in Burlington, Vt.

"It's really beautiful," she said.

"I think mostly I'm really excited. I keep counting the days, so there's definitely anticipation.

I'm kind of elated that the day has finally come. I'm very grateful for God and all those that have helped me along the way."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell