In 2015, I became a contributor to Heart of Mary Women’s Fellowship and in 2016 became a part of their executive team before stepping down that same year. Below is a piece based on an interview of the founders of My Saint My Hero, a Catholic jewelry company based out of California. It was a part of a series, “Getting to Know Heart of Mary Women’s Fellowship.” It was originally published May 6, 2016.

“God is real and prayer works.”

That’s what Christine Rich, one half of the duo behind My Saint My Hero, wants you to know. And her partner Amy D’Ambra would agree.  Together, they’ve taken My Saint My Hero from the quiet whisper of an inspiration,  to a growing company that reaches across three continents, weaving people together in prayer.

The company started with a prayer. Amy and Christine knew what they wanted to do – they wanted people to know that prayer is real, that the saints are real, and that you can experience it. But one thing neither of them had, was the experience to start a jewelry company.

No matter. When God is on your side, and when you come to Him in prayer, He has a tendency to work out the details. Like the fact that there is a woman in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia who recently lost her husband and needed a job. She knew how to weave bracelets and a small company out of California in the United States needed someone to make their bracelets.

Or that you have started out with a small medal, a Benedictine Cross, and are looking for a factory to make more medals for a burgeoning company. A friend finds you a small factory out of Italy, in a small town on the coast – Laredo. And if the legendary house of the Holy Family isn’t quite enough for you, then maybe you’ll be astonished that it was, all along, this factory that has been making your medals.

Prayer. It’s what My Saint My Hero wants to remind you to actually do.

Don’t just talk about it. Don’t just dream about it. Don’t just read about it.

Do it.

What does this have to do with jewelry? Well, Christine says,

“when I put my bracelets on every morning and when I look down at them, sometimes I…I just hold onto it.” And this serves as a reminder to pray – and “not just in the big things.”

Christine reminds us,

“it’s in every decision we make.”

Or, sometimes the bracelets can remind us of our consecration to Jesus, through his Mother. If you have gone through the Consecration to Mary with us, you already know this. The bracelet you received was designed exclusively for Heart of Mary Women’s Fellowship by My Saint My Hero. It, too, serves as a reminder; not only to pray, but also that you are “enslaved” to Jesus, through Mary.

Heart of Mary is honored to be such close friends with My Saint My Hero. It’s not every day that you find friends. And it’s even rarer to find Catholic friends. But to find Catholic friends to pray with? That’s priceless.