"What Can I Offer The Lord For All His Goodness To Me?" (Psalm 116). When my husband and I were putting together our Will and Trust this past Spring 2023, there was no hesitation to which organization we would list as the primary beneficiary. While other options certainly came to the surface, a quick recap of blessings since my relatively brief association with AV (2020) made our decision the obvious one. Our short-list includes: regular formation meetings, free mini courses, spiritual direction, the marriage retreat, Liberatio, a spring break mission-trip destination (offering my children a sense of "belonging" & both friendship and familiarity with the Burkes and the mission of AV). Post mission trip blessings include: a daughter's abandonment of yoga, the miraculous "falling away" of another daughter's problematic friendship, my husband and (2) sons taking up morning meditation with "The Better Part", my husband following a rule of life and beginning the search for a spiritual director ... A transformation of my prayer life, the family receiving Jesus reverently ... In short, EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS. Apostoli Viae has transformed, in my life, EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS most to me! When I recall these wonders, I found myself asking: "Lord, What offering can I make for all the good you have done for me through Apostoli Viae??" Listing AV as a beneficiary on our will has been, for us, one way to respond to that call.

Faith is like a great cathedral with beautiful stained-glass windows. Standing outside we cannot see or imagine the beauty of those windows, but standing inside every ray of sunlight reveals a harmony of multifaceted, unspeakable splendors (Carolyn Humphreys, O.C.D.S). With the love and guidance of the Avila Institute and Apostoli Viae community, I’m immersed in the beauty and fullness of our Catholic Faith and genuinely believe that God has forgiven my past sins, that he loves me (Isaiah 43:4 is a favorite of mine), and that when I fall, He wants me to come to Him for healing and forgiveness. Embracing the love of Christ has opened doors revealing the splendors of what awaits me at the end of my earthly journey. I’m leaving this legacy so that future generations will be able to enjoy the love and guidance within AV to live the lives that God created all of us to live.

It's such a long story. God has blessed me more than I deserve. I was raised Catholic. I left the church my senior year in high school. I returned to the church 6 years later, with the help of the Blessed Mother and the messages of Medjugorje, and the prayers of my own mother. God blessed me with a music ministry that has taken me all over the world. I could have never imagined what He had in store for me. And again, I did not deserve it. I wasn't "All In" until after my third divorce and annulment in 2010. And then, I was "All In" about 80%. I still had some attachments I was not letting go of. The pandemic changed everything in my spiritual life, for the better. Now, I am 100% All In. No turning back. God brought me to the Latin Mass and pointed me towards Apostoli Viae in my search for spiritual direction and a deeper prayer life. I became a sojourner in January 2022 and it was the best decision I ever made. It completely changed my prayer life and my journey as a Catholic. God has revealed so many things to me through the meetings I watch and the courses on the website. I believe in this ministry and just wanted to leave it in my will in some way, since I have no children.