Snowstorms, Virginity and the Spirit of Adventure
A story of Love, written in the halls of Heaven
“And can I get a Toll Pass?” I asked the woman at the rental car desk where I’d hoped to rent a car.
She turned to look at me with smiling, sympathetic eyes…the way a mother looks at a child who asks if Santa Claus is real. And with her deep southern drawl, she sweetly said, “Oh honey, we don’t have no tolls down here…”
And with that, the adventure began.
Actually, it began earlier that day—I just didn’t know it then.
It began at the gate for my flight to Dallas-Fort Worth when I learned that the next flight was canceled; I thought, “Well, at least we’ll get in before the Winter Mega-Storm Cora plows through the south…”
Wrong.
And two hours later, at 30,000 feet, we learned of our fate—we were being diverted to Memphis because the runways in Dallas resembled the ice-skating rink in Central Park. Well, at least the two seats adjacent to me were empty, making for a comfortable and, well, shorter flight, unfortunately to a city I had no need or desire to visit.
Win. Win. Lose.
Thankfully, I had an extra day built into the schedule, and since Memphis was loosely a day’s drive to Houston, where I needed to be, I found myself at a familiar place: a car rental desk.
Read: Chasing Jesus on boat-In a pickup truck (Another rental car saga)
The winter apocalypse was tracking west to east through the heartland, from Central Texas to Atlanta, so I did the sensible thing: I headed south. Five hours to Baton Rouge—as far south as I could go—then another five hours west to Houston.
As I drove through Mississippi forests and Louisiana bayous, it dawned on me that this was the one region I’d missed during the Eucharistic Pilgrimages last year. And ironically, I was now heading to Houston to cover the Rite of Consecration to Virginity of MacKenzie Warrens, leader of the St. Juan Diego Route—the route I was now driving in reverse.
Passing several churches, I wondered if those were the ones the pilgrims had stopped at and what impact the Blessed Sacrament made on these communities. I imagined it mirrored the other routes: deep and abiding and transformative, bringing Christ’s Healing, Hope, Love, and Mercy to the nation’s very soul.
The first time I’d heard of MacKenzie was on one of the other pilgrimage routes. I thought I remembered when and by whom, but, in retrospect, I have no idea. Between the fast pace of those days and my cataclysmically bad memory, it’s a detail lost to the ages.
Nonetheless, I do remember a pilgrim gently leaning toward me and saying, “I’d like you to have these...” She handed me a set of Rosary beads adorned with little cowboy boots separated by tiny turquoise and silver beads. She explained that ‘MacKenzie’ and her “Marian army” had made them to hand out along the route.
It wouldn’t be until weeks later in Kentucky that I’d finally meet her.
She seemed normal enough. Quirky and funny, but there was something different about her—a quality that separated her from the others. It was only on the day that we’d arrived in Indianapolis, led by Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that it became clear.
It was the profound love with which she gazed upon Him.
Don’t get me wrong; there were a gazillion others who gazed with love upon Him.
But hers was unique.

So when she contacted me months later about her Consecration, everything clicked. Of course, this was where her journey had been leading.
So after two tanks of gas and more fast food than anyone should eat in a day, I finally entered Houston’s city limits.
The following morning, as dawn broke, the bright sun climbed the skyline, casting long shadows across the empty streets. There wasn’t a single cloud to blemish the Marian blue sky, quite the contrast to 24 hours earlier with its ice and snow.
It was perfect.
Walking to the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, I chuckled, “Of course, it’s a perfect day; it’s Jesus’ and MacKenzie’s wedding day…and He controls the weather!”
If you’ve never been to a Rite of Consecration to Virginity, it’s similar to the Profession of Vows of Women Religious, like Sisters or Nuns. However, the woman professing does not enter a specific religious community. She will live in the world as a Consecrated Virgin and Bride of Jesus Christ—on her own, so to speak.
Most have regular jobs and live in society like anyone else. But through their profession, they bear Christ in the world in a unique way, living to love Him and love and serve their neighbors.
It’s an ancient and beautiful vocation that has been growing in popularity in recent years.

As the Co-Cathedral filled with friends and loved ones, MacKenzie sat beaming in her bridal dress—a dress harkening back to the one she wore for her First Holy Communion. But this time, she would receive His Sacred Heart, and He would receive hers for all eternity.
A match literally made in Heaven.
And those gathered joyfully anticipated the immensity of what was about to occur.
A full 4th Degree Knights of Columbus Honor Guard, the Order of Malta, a Cardinal, a Bishop, and hundreds of the faithful came to witness a breathtaking act of Divine Love as it would occur beneath the towering gilt ceilings of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
And as she lay upon the cold marble offering her heart, her soul, her very being to He who would be her Beloved, a sacred union was formed.
A ring, placed upon her finger.
A veil laid upon her head.
A mark etched within her soul.
The long and winding road that led her to this moment—the tears, the struggles, the quiet hours of prayer—had brought her to the altar of Divine Love.
Her resounding ‘Yes!’ was the culmination of a love story written not in books but in the Eternal Embrace of Jesus Christ.
In the end, MacKenzie’s Consecration wasn’t about the gathered crowd, the pageantry, or even the trials faced to get there.
It was about her heart and His, united in a covenant that will withstand every storm, every trial, every age…
It was a moment of Heaven touching Earth, and no snowstorm—no force of nature—could ever stop it.
Not then, not ever.








And this is what they did…
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Read: “I’m Telling Jesus on You!!!” And other things kids can tell us about Faith”