April 26, 2023 “Bing the dog comes home.” That was the headline the editor put on the first story I worked on with the quiet, shy staff photographer at The Malone Telegram, the newspaper that gave me my first job in the industry in 2002, shortly after I graduated from college. We worked together for only a few months. Several months after that story about the skittish puppy who escaped from the scene of a car accident, that photographer put in his two-week notice and ended his employment with the newspaper. We started dating that same week. We’ll celebrate our 19th anniversary this fall. I thought about Bing on Sunday as my husband, Adam, and I worked together for the first time in decades photographing the Solemn Consecration to the life of Consecrated Virginity Lived in the World of Mary Beth Bracy, held on April 16 at St. Peter’s Church in Plattsburgh (check out our photos on Page 1, 3 & 12). God brought Adam and I together, brought us into our vocations with Adam behind a camera and the two of us working together. God later brought us front and center before his altar, where we vowed before our friends, family and Lord to love each other forever and help each other get to heaven. Last Sunday, God brought Adam and I together with both of us behind cameras and the two of us working together. We were on opposite sides of an altar as someone else followed God’s call to her vocation and made vows of love and commitment. It brought me far more joy than I expected. Reflecting on the day, it occurred to me that living our vocations creates that joy in each of us. That doesn’t mean living our vocations – whether it be to marriage, priesthood or a form of consecrated life – will always be easy or always be fun and happy, but living our vocations, following God’s call, brings a kind of peace and joy that makes those tough moments bearable. Living our vocations brings us closer to Christ. It helps us get to our heavenly home. |
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