How He Asked | Jackie + Elias

From NYC to Lourdes, a lifetime invitation to dance.

Elias knew it from the first time he went: Lourdes, France, the holy ground where Our Lady appeared to Saint Bernadette, captivated his heart. Elias heard Mary speak to him and pull him back year after year, visiting on pilgrimages with his family business and through his service with the Order of Malta. Ultimately, this sacred place would take on an even deeper resonance.

At the end of a Young Adult Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, Jackie found herself swept along in the crowd to the Christmas celebration that followed at a nearby bar. “I was literally being led,” she says. She enjoyed the evening but soon began glancing at the time, concerned about getting a train home from the city before it got too late.

From the Bride:

I was about to leave, but was stopped by a girl complimenting my dress. I politely tried to hurry the conversation along, and then it happened: my heart was pierced. This strikingly handsome man passed me and moved my soul with his eyes.

My friend asked, “Did you feel that?!” I did. Deeper than I wanted to admit.

We introduced ourselves. His name was Elias, and we had a lot in common. Before long, we were salsa dancing and laughing, and though we were surrounded by hundreds, it was as if no one else was in the room. He never took his gaze off of me. At the end of the night, Elias offered to drive me home to Long Island, but I declined and he hailed a cab for me instead. I needed space to absorb what just happened: I’d met an incredibly handsome Catholic gentleman, after mass at Saint Patrick’s, on the Feast of Saint Lucy--patron saint of eyesight! All on a snowy night in New York City. I knew my life was never going to be the same. My many prayers were answered.

From the Groom:

After the beautiful Mass, filled with Christmas spirit, I quickly made my way over to the afterparty location, where I was setting up a table with World Youth Day information.

As I mingled and chatted, I saw this incredibly striking woman walk up to the bar across from me and order a Jameson on the rocks. A beautiful Catholic woman, seemingly single, ordering my go-to drink. Thank you, Jesus!

Right then I made a promise that I wasn’t going home without getting her name, and hopefully her phone number, too.

When I made my move and approached Jackie and her friend, we locked eyes. As cliché as it sounds, time seemed to stand still. We eventually found ourselves in a group chat, sharing a little about ourselves and our interests. She had me at “faith, food and fitness.” By the time we were dancing, I tried not to step on her feet nor reveal how much I was secretly sweating. That night, I met Jackie and fell in love.

The Proposal

Jackie and Elias traveled to Lourdes on a pilgrimage trip to serve in the healing baths. The theme of the trip, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5), left them with full hearts, on fire for growth, acceptance of their vocations, and the pursuit of the Father’s will.

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes, in reference to Our Lady’s hand in her children’s lives, said, “the first movement does not belong to us, it is the second which belongs to us.” Jackie and Elias considered this first pilgrimage their personal “first movement.” The following year, they returned. They share:

“The second movement: in 2019, we returned for the second time together with more experience, confidence and a desire to fully abandon ourselves to God’s will--and each other). It is believed that in year one Our Lady invites us; year two is our decision or fiat--our Yes.

“Saying “yes,” giving our fiat, was a continual theme throughout that trip. We said yes to encountering people where they were on their walks of faith, yes to performing our daily duties serving the people of Lourdes, and, in the most literal way possible, saying yes to one another.”

On a rainy Friday night on the Feast of Saint Anne and the final evening of a novena and their second year of service in the healing baths, Jackie and Elias attended Mass in the Grotto at Lourdes. In the moments that followed the Mass and Adoration, with their families tuning in from a livestream in New York, Elias read Jackie a letter, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him. Her response: oui.

“We couldn’t have dreamed for a more perfect, holy and beautiful proposal,” they say, “and even more, the gift of one another. We are still overjoyed with the complete beauty, blessing and meaning in it all”.