Rachel (Miller ’20) Krause
I was not happy with Dr. Safranski on the first day of Scripture and Tradition my freshman year of college when he told us to get in groups of four for a semester-long group project. But really, I should have been thanking him. I’ve always hated group projects, yet that was where I met my husband.
As we all rushed to find groups of four, I found myself in an incomplete group of three. Two boys stood awkwardly at the front, and Dr. Safranski directed them to join one of the two remaining groups of three so we could get started. I suppose it was Providence that led Matt to walk toward our group. He said it was because we all looked smart (so he wouldn’t have to do as much work). Whatever the reason, Matt and I first met in Dr. Safranski’s Scripture and Tradition class freshman year.
Obviously, our story didn’t end there. Matt was in the Priestly Discernment Program, and I was totally OK with that. In fact, I remarked to a friend a year later that I was so glad Matt and I were friends because things couldn’t get awkward since he was already “taken.” That was right before heading to Austria, and God was probably laughing.
I fell in love with Matt in Salzburg. After travelling through Europe together, having classes together, eating meals together, hanging out with mutual friends together, spending two semesters of suppressing our feelings for each other, and going ice skating on the night of formal together “just as friends,” it was beginning to be too much. I drew the line and decided to slam that door shut. God was laughing again.
Over Christmas break, Matt went to a monastery intending to stay for two weeks—like he had done many times before—and God made his vocation very clear to him. Matt left after five days and began pursuing me immediately. We started dating as soon as we got back on campus, and I’m so glad God had a greater plan than I could’ve ever imagined. We got married on the weekend of Corpus Christi, 2021, and the story continues!
Now we live near my family in Sandy Springs, Georgia. I work for Regina Caeli Academy, a national hybrid homeschool program in the Catholic tradition, and Matt works for St. Pius X Catholic High School while also pursuing a degree in canon law. We can’t wait to see what else the Lord has in store for our lives!
Rachel (Miller ’20) Krause