Confessions of a Marianne devotee

[caption id="attachment_2221" align="aligncenter" width="744" caption="Marianne and I during the JS Prom held at the Davao Convention Center."][/caption]

My girlfriend, Marianne, is a deeply religious woman. She is surrounded by equally religious people. Her sister is a nun, a member of the Ancillae Christi-Regis or Handmaids of Christ the King. Her parents are active members of the Couples for Christ. Her maternal grandmother came from Bohol, perhaps one of the regions in the Philippines that can be considered a bastion of Catholicism. She's not given to curse words. I never heard her say f*** or s***. She's ill at ease with people who backbite. She doesn't mingle with sycophants.

The problem is not that she's not virtuous enough. It's that she's so virtuous our colleagues say, and they sometimes tease me about this, that she's more likely to enter the religious life. Fear gripped me every time they talk about her being a nun. I couldn't stand to lose the woman I love.

I was afraid again when one day, a congregation visited Stella Maris to sell books and other religious articles. One nun gave her an invitation form. If you want to join our Search-In, the nun told her, fill out the form. She told me about the invitation. I feigned not to be affected by it and convinced myself to be realistic. It's just a Search-In, I kept telling myself, she's not going to be a nun yet. I prayed to God not to let the Search-In come to pass. God must be listening, for she was not able to attend the Search-In.

I somehow regretted having a girlfriend so in love with God. But later I regretted having regretted that I have a girlfriend so in love with God.

In the middle of October last year, I joined the Singles for Christ. In one of the teachings, we were taught that the first Christian ideal is to love God. Thereupon it dawned on me that I should not get in the way of my girlfriend and her God. And it's a precept we all would do well to follow.

If your girlfriend loves God more than you, don't hinder her. Feed that love.

If she wants to go to the Church, let her go to the Church. If possible, go with her.

If she wants to pray the Holy Rosary, let her pray the Holy Rosary. If possible, pray with her.

If she wants to visit the Adoration Chapel before going to work, let her visit the Adoration Chapel. If possible, visit with her.

My girlfriend loves God above all---above work, above family, above herself, and above me.

Do I envy it? No. Do I get frustrated if much of our time is spent attending masses? No. Do I feel like baduy if we spent our monthsary in Shrine? No.

Lest you think I'm a martyr, I'm not. But why I'm doing all these? It's because I've just unfolded the secret to a happy relationship, and it is this: A person who loves God shows that love by loving others. So the more I help her enkindle her love for God, the more she loves me back as an expression of her love for God.

Trust me. There's no point threatening your girlfriend she can't find someone like you, so she has to stick with you and follow whatever you want. And if you want to marry her someday, you must love the God she loves and follow what Shamcey Supsup said.

During the Q&A portion of the 2011 Miss Universe, Vivica A. Fox asked Shamcey Supsup if she would change her religion to marry the one she loves.

“If I had to change my religious beliefs," Shamcey said, "I would not marry the person that I love because the first person that I love is God who created me and I have my faith and my principles and this is what makes me who I am. And if that person loves me, he should love my God too.”