Happy Feast of Corpus Christi!
In this episode of the Veil and Armour podcast, Sheila Nonato interviews Charisse Tierney, who shares the inspiring story of her beloved friend ,Jaylen Meyer. Charisse discusses her journey as a mother, writer, and musician, and how her friendship with Jaylen blossomed through shared experiences in faith and motherhood.
The conversation delves into Jaylen's struggles with addiction, her transformative relationship with the Bible, and her eventual conversion to Catholicism. Charise highlights Jaylen's unwavering faith, her approach to suffering, and the profound impact she had on those around her, culminating in the writing of a book about her life by her friend, Charisse, with the working title of "A Beautiful Soul."
Takeaways:
-Jaylen's story is one of transformation and faith.
-The title 'Beautiful Soul' reflects Jaylen's character.
-Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a Montessori-based spiritual formation for children.
-The Bible played a crucial role in Jaylen's healing journey.
-Jaylen's unexpected pregnancy led to her transformation into a devoted mother.
-Jaylen's conversion to Catholicism was a significant turning point in her life.
-Living a life of holiness involved simplifying her surroundings and prioritizing prayer.
-Jaylen's suffering was embraced as part of her spiritual journey.
Memorable quotes:
"She was a beautiful soul."
"She surrendered everything."
To support Charisse Tierney's work towards completing the book, "A Beautiful Soul," please visit:
https://www.charissetierney.com
https://www.youtube.com/@charissetierney
To reach Veil + Armour, please visit:
https://veilandarmour.com
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https://www.sheilanonato.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charisse Tierney (00:00):
I watched her as a mom struggling with things
with her kids and trying to gettheir work done, and running
from her in the park when allshe was trying to do was round
them up and get them in the vanto go get lunch.
She was just like any other mom, you know, in that regard, and
yet, when she allowed God towork in their lives, and even
(00:24):
through such great trial andhardship, anything is possible
with God's grace and mercy.
And you're not alone.
We've all been through it, evenJaylen.
Sheila Nonato (00:36):
And he said there was a man who had two sons, and
the younger of them said to hisfather, "Father, give me the
share of property that falls tome.
And he divided his livingbetween them.
Not many days later, theyounger son gathered all he had
and took his journey into a farcountry, and there he squandered
(00:57):
his property and loose living,and when he had spent everything
, a great famine arose in thatcountry and he began to be in
want.
So he went and joined himselfto one of the citizens of that
country who sent him into hisfields to feed swine and he
would gladly have fed on thepods that the swine ate.
And no one gave him anything.
(01:19):
But when he came to himself, hesaid, "ow many of my father's
hired servants have bread enoughand to spare, but I perish here
with hunger.
I will arise and go to myfather and I will say to him
Father, I have sinned againstheaven and before you I am no
(01:39):
longer worthy to be called yourson.
But the father said to hisservants Bring quickly the best
robe and put it on him and put aring on his hand and shoes on
his feet and bring the fattedcalf and kill it and let us eat
and make merry For this.
My son was dead and is aliveagain.
He was lost and is found, andthey began to make merry.
(02:05):
The parable of the Prodigal Sonand his brother, according to
the Gospel of St.
Luke, tells of the story ofGod's unconditional love for us.
Today we will hear the story ofa young woman named Jaylen, who
battled addiction, livedthrough childhood trauma from
abuse addiction, lived throughchildhood trauma from abuse and
(02:29):
cried to Jesus to find him instudying the Word of God.
Let us hear Jaylen's incrediblejourney to Jesus, as told by
her dear friend, CharisseTierney, from Jaylen living like
the prodigal children whom weall are or have been, to
claiming her rightful place asthe daughter of the King of
Kings.
Happy Feast of Corpus Christi!His love reigns forever.
(02:51):
Thank you and God bless.
Hello and welcome to the Veiland Armoru podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist,
seeking the guidance of the HolySpirit and the inspiration of
Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
(03:14):
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
.
Co-Host (03:22):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Sheila Nonato (03:30):
Welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast and I am
humbled and honored to welcomeCharisse Tierney to our podcast.
Thank you so much for comingand for asking me, via the Veil
Armour podcast, to tell thisbeautiful story of your friend,
which we will discuss during theinterview.
But if you can, please startoff with a prayer.
Charisse Tierney (03:50):
Yes, I would love to, in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of theHoly Spirit.
Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,and Blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, prayfor us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.
Amen, in the name of the Fatherand of the Son and of the Holy
(04:12):
Spirit, Amen.
Sheila Nonato (04:15):
And I would just like to introduce the listeners,
our listeners, to Charisse.
She has held a love for writingever since her childhood years.
She has contributed regularlyto CatholicMomcom for over a
decade and is a contributingauthor for the Catholic Moms
Prayer Companion.
Her writings have also beenpublished in Family Foundations
(04:35):
magazine and on her personalblogs, paving the Path to Purity
and Montessori Piano.
Charisse has over 25 years ofexperience as a professional
clarinetist and piano andclarinet instructor.
She has most recently enjoyedperforming with such groups as
the Wichita Symphony, theWichita Grand Opera and Ballet
(04:56):
Wichita.
When she isn't writing,performing or teaching, cherise
stays busy at home in WestWichita with her husband and
seven children, five of whichshe homeschools.
She strives to live a devoutCatholic lifestyle with her
family and especially enjoysreading stories of the saints
with her children andcontinually seeking ways to keep
prayer and love for God centralamidst the busyness of a big
(05:18):
family life.
Welcome, Charisse.
And that's already such abeautiful story right there, but
there's more.
So yeah, so, if you can, I'msure the readers or the
listeners already know you fromyour writings for the Catholic
publications and blogs, but canyou just tell us a little bit
about yourself and what have youbeen doing in terms of your
(05:39):
motherhood and also your writingand your music career?
Charisse Tierney (05:43):
Right.
So, yeah, I have seven children, so the bulk of my time goes
towards caring for my family,caring for my children.
We also recently, about a yearago, my parents moved into an
assisted living facility and Ihave a mentally handicapped
sister who moved in with us, sonow we also help to care for
(06:06):
them.
But I was a full-timestay-at-home mom for over 20
years, so I know what that'slike to be in the thick of
diapers and nursing and toddlersand all of the chaos that can
(06:26):
come with that.
And it was during that timeespecially that I found a
creative outlet in my writing.
As you mentioned, I'm aprofessional musician, but the
younger childhood years withwith my children didn't allow me
a lot of time to keep up withmy performing that I loved so
(06:51):
much, um.
So the writing allowed me tohave a creative outlet and I
started my, my blog then and um,and started writing for
Catholic mom, and which I'vebeen writing for for over 10
years now, I believe, and I'vereally loved being a part of
that community and enjoyingkeeping that up, and it's been a
(07:11):
dream to write a book.
My friend Jaylen gave me awonderful story to share and I
am thrilled that God placed herin my life so that I can tell
her story.
Sheila Nonato (07:25):
And can you yeah, can you please tell us?
Is the book going to be titled"Beautiful Soul or that's sort
of a tentative title?
Can you tell us about the bookthat you're working on and your
friend.
Charisse Tierney (07:35):
Right.
So that's the working titleright now, which actually came
from the homily at her funeralmass.
Father Jared Leis, whoconcelebrated that funeral mass,
began his homily that way, withthose two words, beautiful soul
, which actually had come from atext from another priest that
(07:56):
had worked closely with her.
Father Bernie, who was with herand her family in her final
hours, was with her and herfamily in her final hours and he
let him know in a text that shehad passed and he just said
beautiful soul.
And I think those two wordsreally stuck with anyone who had
(08:17):
met her.
Everyone saw that immediatelythat that was the perfect way to
describe her, Anyone whovisited her, especially in her
final weeks and days, and sawhow she had transformed and
taken this illness and thiscancer and her suffering and all
(08:41):
that she had to sacrifice atthe young age of 36 with four
young children, and she allowedGod to transform her and her
family and her loved ones andher friends through that
experience, and so it seemedlike a natural title for the
book.
(09:01):
My hope is that by telling herstory, all of her ups and downs
throughout her life, that it canpoint towards Jesus and kind of
provide almost a blueprint forthe rest of us, as many of the
stories of the saints do on howto live our lives better.
(09:23):
Many of the stories of thesaints do on how to live our
lives better, how to get, how tojourney to heaven ourselves and
point always towards heaven andGod and Jesus, as she always
strove to do, especially in herlast moments.
Sheila Nonato (09:40):
Can you tell us how did you meet Jaylen, can you
?
Charisse Tierney (09:43):
tell us how did you meet?
Jayleyn.
So Jaylen and I met about.
It's been about six years agonow, I guess.
My family and I moved to thecity of Wichita, kansas, and I
believe the first time I met herwas just through a Bible study
group at our parish, at ourchurch that we went to, and I
(10:05):
remember she's always been agiver.
I remember even at that timeshe was the mom that would stay
in the room with all thetoddlers so the rest of the moms
could sit and have a break andvisit and discuss our Bible
study.
And yet she was also the momwho would pop in once in a while
with oh, here's a Lentendevotional for all of you.
(10:31):
That I found that, I think,would be wonderful, and so I got
to know her a little bitthrough that.
And then, as our friendshipstarted there, the two of us
really became close when we wentthrough Catechesis of the Good
Shepherd trainings together.
So we spent hours and hours inthose together studying and
learning, and got to where wewould always sit next to each
(10:53):
other, share our notes and ourthoughts through those trainings
.
And then she startedhomeschooling and I started
homeschooling soon after that,and so we started discussing
homeschool ideas and it justgrew and it got to where we
would text regularly, we wouldget together for play dates, we
(11:16):
would go on nature walks withour kids and just really enjoyed
living life as homeschool momstogether.
And we were co-catechists in anatrium for a year and spent a
lot of time there you amongstthe spirituality of children and
learning from them together,and discussing things.
(11:39):
We would observe and kind ofmarvel together at how close
children were to God.
So that was a really specialtime to get to share with her as
well.
Sheila Nonato (11:53):
And can you just explain?
Catechesis of the Good Shepherdand you mentioned the atrium.
For people who don't know thoseterms.
Can you just explain?
Catechesis of the Good Shepherdand you mentioned the atrium
For people who don't know thoseterms.
Can you just explain a littlebit please?
Charisse Tierney (12:02):
Right.
So Catechesis of the GoodShepherd is a spiritual
formation program for childrendeveloped by Maria Montessori.
I don't know if anyone'sfamiliar with the Montessori
educational philosophy andmethod.
Educational philosophy andmethod.
It's a lot of very hands-ontype of learning for children so
(12:23):
that it can work with them attheir developmental level and
fulfill their need to havemovement, to not be stuck behind
a desk just reading or hearinga lecture, but to learn through
reading or hearing a lecture,but to learn through working
with different materials.
The atrium is a specialenvironment or room set up just
(12:44):
for them, for their particularage level.
Maria Montessori believed inhaving children learn from each
other by combining a few agestogether in each classroom.
So the level one atrium hasages three to six, then the
(13:05):
level two is six to nine andlevel three is nine to 12.
And so the atrium would havethings like a miniature altar
with a small chalice and apatent that the children could
work with.
And as they're setting this upand they're thinking through
what everything is called, itbecomes very prayer-like for
them.
We often say that their work istheir prayer, or she would say
(13:30):
that.
And so our job as the catechistis to prepare the environment.
So our job as the catechist isto prepare the environment.
We would present scripturelessons for them.
We read directly from scriptureto these three to six-year-olds
and they blow your mind withwhat they have to say and what
(13:50):
they hear as you read the livingword to them, scripture in the
living room.
The living word was a big partof Jalyn's conversion into the
Catholic church, so I know thatthat spoke especially to her by
being involved in that program.
It's beautiful.
Sheila Nonato (14:12):
It sounds like it .
I think I did.
Yeah, I did do a story for TheCatholic Register in Toronto
many, many years ago and I didvisit the atrium with the
child-sized Pat and Ziborium,the altar, and yeah, it's just
(14:33):
beautiful to see the little kidslearning about the Mass in that
way and then they can eventouch it and it's sort of real
to them right in a way they canunderstand, and that's beautiful
.
and just to sort of continue onwhat you were saying about the
scriptures, the bible, and whatthat meant to your friend, how
did the bible play a role in herlife?
In her, I guess, coming to isit back to was a convert.
(14:56):
Was she coming to the faith orcoming?
Okay, so coming to the faith,how did that play into that and
that?
How did that also help healsome wounds from her, from her
childhood and from some of thestruggles she had faced as an
adult Right?
Charisse Tierney (15:14):
Right.
So she, she had a prettytumultuous early life.
There's a lot to that story.
She faced everything fromexperiencing and witnessing
physical abuse to herself andher mother as like a three and
four yearold, to experiencingher biological father.
(15:41):
She was estranged from him formany years and she also, as she
got into high school, earlycollege years, she struggled
with some alcohol, drugaddiction.
And so I and one of her who isher dad to her he was
(16:08):
technically a stepfather, butwho was the father figure who
was in her life for the longestand who did wonderful things for
her.
His name was Rusty, wonderfulthings for her.
His name was Rusty and I spokewith him and he shared a story
of kind of her rock bottommoment where she had had some
struggles with alcohol and drugs.
And he realized one night shewas just out of her mind, she
(16:32):
was on something.
He wasn't sure what to do, whatit was.
He had a friend he thoughtmight have an idea and be able
to help called him.
He said I think she probablyneeds to go to the hospital and
get some help, you know, and sohe was trying to get her to get
in the car to go.
It was getting difficult to pinher down and get her to agree
to go and out of the blue, agreeto go and out of the blue.
(17:00):
And before this in her life shereally didn't have a lot of
structured religion.
If there was anything in herlife she had experienced, it was
of a Protestant faith, butthere really wasn't anything
consistent or regular that sheexperienced growing up.
And so, out of the blue, in thestate she was in, she suddenly
said I need a Bible, I need toread the Bible.
(17:21):
And Rusty said she had neversaid anything like this before
and he finally got her to go tothe hospital by telling her
we're going to the Bible store,because he just couldn't get her
to make any sense.
And she got in the car, hemanaged to get her there and
pulled up to the hospital andhe's like we're at the Bible
store, let's go in.
(17:41):
So looking back, he finds thestory a little humorous because
fortunately they were able toget her in there and get her the
help that she needed and shedid go into rehab for about six
weeks right after that.
And she did go into rehab forabout six weeks right after that
, but it was during that time inrehab that she picked up a
Bible and started to read it,really read it for the first
(18:05):
time.
Her husband thinks that waslikely the first time she'd
really read any Bible and shewould pick it up and randomly
read a scripture passage, andthen the next time they had
chapel at the rehab center, thatwould happen to be the passage
that the chaplain would read andtalk about.
(18:25):
And this happened several timesthat she would randomly read
something, and the next time shewent into chapel that's the
scripture passage that wasspoken about.
And so she started to thinkwhat's going on here?
There's something happening,and what she was reading started
to really speak to her and moveher, and that was when she
(18:47):
really turned around.
She started to turn around.
Rehab was a big help.
She wasn't fully healed at thatpoint when she left rehab, but
she had definitely turned acorner, um.
And then it wasn't long afterthat that she met just a few
weeks after she met, her husband, Nick and um.
Ever since then, the, the bible, was the truly the living word
(19:13):
for her and she, as Father saidin his homily.
He said she read it.
Not, she never did read it as ahistorical text or just a book.
You know she read it assomething to be absorbed and
lived and to really listen toand pay attention to and
(19:35):
consider it as God speaking toher.
So the Bible really was theturning point for her.
Sheila Nonato (19:46):
So the incident you mentioned when Rusty was
going to take her to thehospital, that was her sort of
rock bottom moment and sort ofthe addiction that she was
facing and the Bible sort of.
There was something stirring inher even before that that she
(20:07):
was interested in reading it,although she was facing these
challenges, these struggles.
But there was something withinher that she was yearning to to
read scripture.
Where was that coming from, doyou know?
Charisse Tierney (20:24):
I don't know Cause I I asked Rusty had she
ever talked about that beforethat moment?
And he said, not that I know ofyou know it's.
It's kind of seems to be justthis divine intervention.
Um, in that, in that moment,that that's where god was really
(20:44):
stepping in to save her.
Um, I know, I mean she had someother.
Of course, as I said, she livedthrough some physical abuse and
witnessing that and the traumaof that.
And and then, um, her estrangedfather and she had and
witnessing that and the traumaof that, and then her estranged
father and she had come throughthat and survived that.
And there were a couple ofseparate times when she was
(21:08):
under the influence and sherolled her car two separate
times and Rusty was the one whohelped her out of those
predicaments.
He was able to come and get hercar back over with his truck
that he had.
And he just said it was thestrangest thing because not even
a window was cracked and shewas completely unharmed both
(21:29):
times.
And he and I were talking it'sjust as if God had this purpose
in mind for her from thebeginning were talking.
It's just as if God had thispurpose in mind for her from the
beginning, which does also.
That was affirmed when herhusband Nick, after she passed
or no, when she was sick he wasspeaking with a priest about her
(21:50):
and telling him all about her,and he said the priest was just
like oh, that's so beautiful,she was chosen for this and for
this purpose.
So I think sometimes we're notsure where these seeds are
planted or where they come from.
Maybe there was some tiny seedplanted somewhere.
But if you just give God alittle, he'll step in and take
(22:18):
that bigger leap that needs tohappen to take care of you.
Sheila Nonato (22:24):
And so, during your work, your interviews,
towards writing the book, youdiscovered that one of, I guess,
the saving graces that you haddiscovered was an unexpected
pregnancy.
How did that fit into this?
(22:45):
sort of miraculous story ofhealing and redemption,
Charisse Tierney (22:47):
Right.
So yeah, she, like I said, shemet her husband, nick, a couple
of weeks after coming out ofrehab and and he he told me.
He said, when she told me abouther past he said I couldn't
believe that was the same person.
She had changed so much even atthat point.
And her stepdad, rusty, saidonce she became a mom he
(23:10):
couldn't believe that was thesame person because he knew her
when she had been struggling somuch.
So there was a bigtransformation there.
But she and Nick had beendating for not for very long, he
said.
And yeah, she realized she waspregnant and, of course, very
(23:33):
anxious about it at first, veryworried.
At that point she and Nickweren't even sure where their
relationship was heading exactly.
And Nick finally told her Ithink you should go talk to
Rusty, your stepdad.
He's helped you through so much.
Go talk to him, he'll know howto guide you through this.
And she did.
And he just said you know, Ithink God placed this child in
(23:56):
your life for some reason andbrought you and Nick together
for a reason, and I think youneed to give him a chance and
keep dating him and just seewhere it goes.
And there was always theintention that that baby would
be born.
And then she agreed you know,yes, we'll try, we'll give this
(24:20):
a try.
And of course then we knoweventually they did get married,
nick and Jaylen.
They Kyson was born, and thenit was a couple of years after
that they did get married andthat they had their challenges.
I know they had.
(24:42):
Sometimes they went throughsome marriage counseling
together.
Every marriage has strugglesfrom time to time.
But they stuck it out.
And so her Stepdad, rusty, hesaid and Kyson is her oldest
son's name and he said Kyson andNick saved her.
He said I couldn't haveimagined her ever having the
(25:04):
capability of being responsibleenough to be a mom until she had
to be.
And then she really stepped upand that that baby saved her.
And so did Nick.
And after she passed I talked toand Nick had told me several
times too, though he's like well, she saved me Because when he
(25:28):
met her he said he didn't feelhe was as devout in the faith as
he could have been, but onceshe converted she really drew
him in and it really bolsteredhis faith life.
And then, when I talked toKyson after she passed he's 13
now.
He said, yeah, dad always saysthat mom saved him and this is
(25:55):
this little baby that she was soanxious about.
And here he was sitting talkingto me about how, because of her
, now he's not afraid of deathanymore.
And he said I miss her and Iget sad sometimes, but I'm so
happy because I know where sheis.
(26:15):
And he just had thisauthenticity and faith and
fervor in the way he spoke.
It made me think of her and herlast days and the way that she
spoke and I said how has thataffected your personal faith
(26:37):
life?
And he said, "h yeah, I used tothink of church as a chore, but
now I get excited to go and Ithought what a gift that she
left him.
And now he's this light in theworld, reflecting so much that's
so similar to the way she was,and all from this baby and this
(26:59):
unexpected circumstance that sheaccepted and took a chance on
and jumped into wholeheartedly.
Sheila Nonato (27:09):
Beautiful, and can you tell me when did she
convert?
Was it after going throughrehab not too long after that,
or did it take her a few yearsto come into the church?
Charisse Tierney (27:24):
Right.
It took a few years.
It was in 2017 that she joinedthe church, so that was actually
just before I met her.
So I saw her as this on-fireconvert.
When I first met her, and, yeah, I couldn't.
I was much like Nick.
I couldn't believe the thingsshe told me about her former way
(27:46):
of life, but it was, yeah.
When she met Nick, she said,well, any church I know at all
is a Protestant church and maybeyou could come with me to one
of those, because she knew hewas Catholic and church was
becoming a subject they werediscussing, and so he went with
(28:10):
her and he's like I don't know,you know?
And then he said, well, whydon't you come with me to a
Catholic Mass?
And he said, well, the firsttime she went to mass, she
described it as a cult becauseshe just didn't understand it,
and it seemed so formulated withall of the kneeling and the
standing and the responses thatare the same every time and all
(28:30):
of that.
But as she kept going andreading the Bible, it started to
make a little more sense to her.
And then it came time to sendtheir kids to school, and Nick
was Catholic and he was likewell, we send our kids to
Catholic school, you know, andshe was open to that because she
(28:53):
just she didn't want to sendthem to public school.
So she said, okay, let's dothat.
And they started coming homewith the religion papers and
things that they were learningin school and she said I want to
understand more about whatthey're learning in school.
Like, I don't fully understandall of this myself and this is
where I'm sending my children.
I want to understand this.
(29:14):
So that's when she reallystarted picking up more books
about the faith stories of thesaints and reading more and more
about it.
And Nick said she just neverlooked back, she just believed
everything and she tookeverything to heart and believed
it 100% and then started goingto R.
(29:38):
C.
I.
A.
(Rite of Christian Initiationof Adults, now known as the
Order of Christian Initiation ofAdults or O.
C.
I.
A.
), mostly again at first just tolearn more about the faith, but
then it was all over after thatmore about the faith, but then
it was all over.
After that she started learningmore and decided that he said
once she believed and wasconvinced that Jesus Christ
founded the Catholic Church andif he founded it, then anything
(30:01):
the church taught has to be trueand we have to live that way
because it came from Jesus.
And he said he does think byreading the Bible and taking it
in as a living word, the livingword the way she did.
She had developed thisrelationship with Jesus and God
first, so she had that ferventlove for Jesus and therefore
(30:27):
anything that he said she wasgoing to do and live 100%.
So by having that relationshipfirst and then hearing the maybe
quote, unquote rules as wethink of them sometimes in the
church, they weren't rules toher.
They were this person she lovedwith all her heart, showing her
(30:51):
how to be who he created her tobe and that's all she wanted.
And so that's when I knew herand I was just always amazed at
the Catechesis of the GoodShepherd trainings and Bible
studies.
She was always asking questionsand always trying to make sure
she really understood everything.
And Nick said she was alwaysreading and he's like she didn't
(31:16):
just read and think well,that's a nice thing that that
saint did, or that's a nicedevotion.
She read it and said I have tolive this way, we need to do
this now.
And this was before she everhad the cancer diagnosis and she
was relentless with that.
It was that way for the rest ofher life.
Sheila Nonato (31:38):
And, as you again , in your research you found
many beautiful things in the waythat she was living holiness in
her daily life.
Like you were mentioning that,you found out that she was very
serious about her faith, thatshe got a flip phone, that she
(31:58):
moved the TV to their basement,that her house was simple and
decluttered.
She really wanted to hear Godand get out all the distractions
.
Is that sort of what you havediscovered?
Charisse Tierney (32:13):
Oh, yes, yeah, and I was in her home a lot.
It was always so peaceful andyou could definitely tell that
the presence of God was there,especially at the end.
But yeah, Nick, her husbandsaid she got to a point.
She said I don't want the TV uphere, we need to move it out.
(32:33):
And he said, well, I'll put itin the basement and the room
where the TV had been became herreading room, her space, her
quiet space.
And he said when he got homefrom work at the end of each day
she'd always go into her roomand read for at least an hour
and she just wanted that quietreading, prayer time.
He said he would try to get herto maybe come in and watch a
(32:56):
movie with the family sometimes,which of course she would at
times.
But he said there was alwaysthat priority of getting her
quiet time in or of reading orof praying.
That always came first.
And, um, he said I kind of feltbad because there were moments
I felt a little jealous.
She was just always putting Godfirst, which of course he knows
(33:19):
.
He said that's how it should be.
And he's like I wish I wasbetter at that all the time and
I wish that's just how shealways was.
Yeah, she got a flip phone, Iremember when she did that and
yeah, it got to be a littleharder to get a hold of her
sometimes, but she just wasgetting more disconnected from
(33:40):
the world and more connectedwith God in that way, more
connected with God in that way,and she really continued to
pursue that.
Another thing that struck me Iwas listening back to an
interview just last night withher husband and he was talking
about her practice of prayer andhow she was so good at
(34:01):
imaginative prayer, of reallyenvisioning the scripture
passage or Jesus or Mary rightthere with her and really
putting herself in that momentwith them.
And he says she just shepracticed it a lot.
You know, I think sometimes weread about these things and we
(34:23):
try to do them for a while andeither give up or fall away, but
she just kept at it and thenkept getting better at it and
going deeper into it by herpractice of it.
Sheila Nonato (34:37):
And so all of this was it seems like it was
preparing her.
I'm sorry I'm going to cry,because I watched the video that
you did about her and it wasjust I mean, just before we did
the interview, so it was just sobeautiful.
Like I'm thinking about HolyWeek this is why I'm getting
teary eyed.
Is that we're going to bejourneying towards Calvary and
(35:02):
awaiting the resurrection?
How did Jalyn carry the crossof her terminal illness?
Can you please tell us?
Charisse Tierney (35:11):
Right, I've been thinking about this a lot
too.
How does one suffer so well?
And I had talked to Nick aboutthat and because the comment he
made was she surrenderedeverything.
And yes, all of that she haddone before.
The diagnosis certainlyprepared her for that, it
strengthened her.
(35:31):
But, and Nick just said onceshe gave everything to God and
surrendered everything,everything fell into place and
it just worked out so well.
And I was like, wait, a lot ofpeople would not see this that
way.
You know, how do you call hergetting a terminal illness and
(35:53):
dying and leaving four youngchildren working out well, you
know, how do we justify that toa world that would certainly,
for the most part, not see thatin that way?
And Jalen was very inspired bythe spirituality of St Therese,
st Faustina I think sheespecially loved the childlike
(36:13):
way of St Therese and I knowthis is familiar, this idea she
had from the words of St Therese.
But he said she would say thatyou know, this world is just a
boat and we're just passingthrough and it's just made.
We're just here for whatever ittakes to get us to heaven and
(36:36):
to God.
And he said so if we're notmade for this world.
Then he said it had to happenthat way for her.
She had to go through that.
That was her boat, that she wason, that was her way of being
purified and getting to God andto Heaven.
And he said so that's why itworked so well.
(36:57):
And I just thought that was abeautiful way to think about it,
that any suffering that we gothrough, any hardships or
challenges that we have, um,that that's, that's our boat,
that's our lot, and that's it'sjust a means to this glorious
(37:20):
end that we're all trying to getto.
And she saw that and she livedit and she embraced it and she
allowed others to see that, asher husband said, there was so
much more fruit born by thatthan just for her, and I think
(37:43):
she must have had anunderstanding of that, that that
was part of her purpose.
I think she must have had anunderstanding of that, that that
was part of her purpose.
When she was entering her finalweeks, she was on hospice and it
got to be where she was hangingon for two and three weeks,
longer than they really thoughtshe would.
And the hospice nurse said Idon't know why she's still
(38:04):
hanging on.
I haven't really seen thisbefore and she's like I think
God has some purpose for this.
I just don't know why she'sstill hanging on.
I haven't really seen thisbefore and she's like I think
God has some purpose for this.
I just don't know what it is.
But in that time people werevisiting her and seeing her and
being inspired by her and shewould always say I don't
understand why people are soinspired by me.
And Nick said she just keptsaying that and he said I
(38:25):
realized she was not actuallydoing this for anybody, she
wasn't trying to look a certainway, it was all for love of God,
it was all because she was inlove with of pain meds.
Sheila Nonato (38:48):
Join us for part two of Jaylen's story, where we
hear of her courageous battleand her journey towards Jesus,
her journey towards carrying herown cross and her path to
holiness.
Co-Host (39:21):
Thank you and God bless .
Thank you for listening to theVeil and Armour podcast.
I invite you to share this withanother Catholic mom today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel and please
spread the word.
Let's Be Brave, let's Be Boldand Be Blessed together.
I watched her as a mom struggling with things
with her kids and trying to gettheir work done, and running
from her in the park when allshe was trying to do was round
them up and get them in the vanto go get lunch.
She was just like any other mom, you know, in that regard, and
yet, when she allowed God towork in their lives, and even
(00:24):
through such great trial andhardship, anything is possible
with God's grace and mercy.
And you're not alone.
We've all been through it, evenJaylen.
Sheila Nonato (00:36):
And he said there was a man who had two sons, and
the younger of them said to hisfather, "Father, give me the
share of property that falls tome.
And he divided his livingbetween them.
Not many days later, theyounger son gathered all he had
and took his journey into a farcountry, and there he squandered
(00:57):
his property and loose living,and when he had spent everything
, a great famine arose in thatcountry and he began to be in
want.
So he went and joined himselfto one of the citizens of that
country who sent him into hisfields to feed swine and he
would gladly have fed on thepods that the swine ate.
And no one gave him anything.
(01:19):
But when he came to himself, hesaid, "ow many of my father's
hired servants have bread enoughand to spare, but I perish here
with hunger.
I will arise and go to myfather and I will say to him
Father, I have sinned againstheaven and before you I am no
(01:39):
longer worthy to be called yourson.
But the father said to hisservants Bring quickly the best
robe and put it on him and put aring on his hand and shoes on
his feet and bring the fattedcalf and kill it and let us eat
and make merry For this.
My son was dead and is aliveagain.
He was lost and is found, andthey began to make merry.
(02:05):
The parable of the Prodigal Sonand his brother, according to
the Gospel of St.
Luke, tells of the story ofGod's unconditional love for us.
Today we will hear the story ofa young woman named Jaylen, who
battled addiction, livedthrough childhood trauma from
abuse addiction, lived throughchildhood trauma from abuse and
(02:29):
cried to Jesus to find him instudying the Word of God.
Let us hear Jaylen's incrediblejourney to Jesus, as told by
her dear friend, CharisseTierney, from Jaylen living like
the prodigal children whom weall are or have been, to
claiming her rightful place asthe daughter of the King of
Kings.
Happy Feast of Corpus Christi!His love reigns forever.
(02:51):
Thank you and God bless.
Hello and welcome to the Veiland Armoru podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist,
seeking the guidance of the HolySpirit and the inspiration of
Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
(03:14):
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
.
Co-Host (03:22):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Sheila Nonato (03:30):
Welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast and I am
humbled and honored to welcomeCharisse Tierney to our podcast.
Thank you so much for comingand for asking me, via the Veil
Armour podcast, to tell thisbeautiful story of your friend,
which we will discuss during theinterview.
But if you can, please startoff with a prayer.
Charisse Tierney (03:50):
Yes, I would love to, in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of theHoly Spirit.
Amen.
Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,and Blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, prayfor us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.
Amen, in the name of the Fatherand of the Son and of the Holy
(04:12):
Spirit, Amen.
Sheila Nonato (04:15):
And I would just like to introduce the listeners,
our listeners, to Charisse.
She has held a love for writingever since her childhood years.
She has contributed regularlyto CatholicMomcom for over a
decade and is a contributingauthor for the Catholic Moms
Prayer Companion.
Her writings have also beenpublished in Family Foundations
(04:35):
magazine and on her personalblogs, paving the Path to Purity
and Montessori Piano.
Charisse has over 25 years ofexperience as a professional
clarinetist and piano andclarinet instructor.
She has most recently enjoyedperforming with such groups as
the Wichita Symphony, theWichita Grand Opera and Ballet
(04:56):
Wichita.
When she isn't writing,performing or teaching, cherise
stays busy at home in WestWichita with her husband and
seven children, five of whichshe homeschools.
She strives to live a devoutCatholic lifestyle with her
family and especially enjoysreading stories of the saints
with her children andcontinually seeking ways to keep
prayer and love for God centralamidst the busyness of a big
(05:18):
family life.
Welcome, Charisse.
And that's already such abeautiful story right there, but
there's more.
So yeah, so, if you can, I'msure the readers or the
listeners already know you fromyour writings for the Catholic
publications and blogs, but canyou just tell us a little bit
about yourself and what have youbeen doing in terms of your
(05:39):
motherhood and also your writingand your music career?
Charisse Tierney (05:43):
Right.
So, yeah, I have seven children, so the bulk of my time goes
towards caring for my family,caring for my children.
We also recently, about a yearago, my parents moved into an
assisted living facility and Ihave a mentally handicapped
sister who moved in with us, sonow we also help to care for
(06:06):
them.
But I was a full-timestay-at-home mom for over 20
years, so I know what that'slike to be in the thick of
diapers and nursing and toddlersand all of the chaos that can
(06:26):
come with that.
And it was during that timeespecially that I found a
creative outlet in my writing.
As you mentioned, I'm aprofessional musician, but the
younger childhood years withwith my children didn't allow me
a lot of time to keep up withmy performing that I loved so
(06:51):
much, um.
So the writing allowed me tohave a creative outlet and I
started my, my blog then and um,and started writing for
Catholic mom, and which I'vebeen writing for for over 10
years now, I believe, and I'vereally loved being a part of
that community and enjoyingkeeping that up, and it's been a
(07:11):
dream to write a book.
My friend Jaylen gave me awonderful story to share and I
am thrilled that God placed herin my life so that I can tell
her story.
Sheila Nonato (07:25):
And can you yeah, can you please tell us?
Is the book going to be titled"Beautiful Soul or that's sort
of a tentative title?
Can you tell us about the bookthat you're working on and your
friend.
Charisse Tierney (07:35):
Right.
So that's the working titleright now, which actually came
from the homily at her funeralmass.
Father Jared Leis, whoconcelebrated that funeral mass,
began his homily that way, withthose two words, beautiful soul
, which actually had come from atext from another priest that
(07:56):
had worked closely with her.
Father Bernie, who was with herand her family in her final
hours, was with her and herfamily in her final hours and he
let him know in a text that shehad passed and he just said
beautiful soul.
And I think those two wordsreally stuck with anyone who had
(08:17):
met her.
Everyone saw that immediatelythat that was the perfect way to
describe her, Anyone whovisited her, especially in her
final weeks and days, and sawhow she had transformed and
taken this illness and thiscancer and her suffering and all
(08:41):
that she had to sacrifice atthe young age of 36 with four
young children, and she allowedGod to transform her and her
family and her loved ones andher friends through that
experience, and so it seemedlike a natural title for the
book.
(09:01):
My hope is that by telling herstory, all of her ups and downs
throughout her life, that it canpoint towards Jesus and kind of
provide almost a blueprint forthe rest of us, as many of the
stories of the saints do on howto live our lives better.
(09:23):
Many of the stories of thesaints do on how to live our
lives better, how to get, how tojourney to heaven ourselves and
point always towards heaven andGod and Jesus, as she always
strove to do, especially in herlast moments.
Sheila Nonato (09:40):
Can you tell us how did you meet Jaylen, can you
?
Charisse Tierney (09:43):
tell us how did you meet?
Jayleyn.
So Jaylen and I met about.
It's been about six years agonow, I guess.
My family and I moved to thecity of Wichita, kansas, and I
believe the first time I met herwas just through a Bible study
group at our parish, at ourchurch that we went to, and I
(10:05):
remember she's always been agiver.
I remember even at that timeshe was the mom that would stay
in the room with all thetoddlers so the rest of the moms
could sit and have a break andvisit and discuss our Bible
study.
And yet she was also the momwho would pop in once in a while
with oh, here's a Lentendevotional for all of you.
(10:31):
That I found that, I think,would be wonderful, and so I got
to know her a little bitthrough that.
And then, as our friendshipstarted there, the two of us
really became close when we wentthrough Catechesis of the Good
Shepherd trainings together.
So we spent hours and hours inthose together studying and
learning, and got to where wewould always sit next to each
(10:53):
other, share our notes and ourthoughts through those trainings
.
And then she startedhomeschooling and I started
homeschooling soon after that,and so we started discussing
homeschool ideas and it justgrew and it got to where we
would text regularly, we wouldget together for play dates, we
(11:16):
would go on nature walks withour kids and just really enjoyed
living life as homeschool momstogether.
And we were co-catechists in anatrium for a year and spent a
lot of time there you amongstthe spirituality of children and
learning from them together,and discussing things.
(11:39):
We would observe and kind ofmarvel together at how close
children were to God.
So that was a really specialtime to get to share with her as
well.
Sheila Nonato (11:53):
And can you just explain?
Catechesis of the Good Shepherdand you mentioned the atrium.
For people who don't know thoseterms.
Can you just explain?
Catechesis of the Good Shepherdand you mentioned the atrium
For people who don't know thoseterms.
Can you just explain a littlebit please?
Charisse Tierney (12:02):
Right.
So Catechesis of the GoodShepherd is a spiritual
formation program for childrendeveloped by Maria Montessori.
I don't know if anyone'sfamiliar with the Montessori
educational philosophy andmethod.
Educational philosophy andmethod.
It's a lot of very hands-ontype of learning for children so
(12:23):
that it can work with them attheir developmental level and
fulfill their need to havemovement, to not be stuck behind
a desk just reading or hearinga lecture, but to learn through
reading or hearing a lecture,but to learn through working
with different materials.
The atrium is a specialenvironment or room set up just
(12:44):
for them, for their particularage level.
Maria Montessori believed inhaving children learn from each
other by combining a few agestogether in each classroom.
So the level one atrium hasages three to six, then the
(13:05):
level two is six to nine andlevel three is nine to 12.
And so the atrium would havethings like a miniature altar
with a small chalice and apatent that the children could
work with.
And as they're setting this upand they're thinking through
what everything is called, itbecomes very prayer-like for
them.
We often say that their work istheir prayer, or she would say
(13:30):
that.
And so our job as the catechistis to prepare the environment.
So our job as the catechist isto prepare the environment.
We would present scripturelessons for them.
We read directly from scriptureto these three to six-year-olds
and they blow your mind withwhat they have to say and what
(13:50):
they hear as you read the livingword to them, scripture in the
living room.
The living word was a big partof Jalyn's conversion into the
Catholic church, so I know thatthat spoke especially to her by
being involved in that program.
It's beautiful.
Sheila Nonato (14:12):
It sounds like it .
I think I did.
Yeah, I did do a story for TheCatholic Register in Toronto
many, many years ago and I didvisit the atrium with the
child-sized Pat and Ziborium,the altar, and yeah, it's just
(14:33):
beautiful to see the little kidslearning about the Mass in that
way and then they can eventouch it and it's sort of real
to them right in a way they canunderstand, and that's beautiful
.
and just to sort of continue onwhat you were saying about the
scriptures, the bible, and whatthat meant to your friend, how
did the bible play a role in herlife?
In her, I guess, coming to isit back to was a convert.
(14:56):
Was she coming to the faith orcoming?
Okay, so coming to the faith,how did that play into that and
that?
How did that also help healsome wounds from her, from her
childhood and from some of thestruggles she had faced as an
adult Right?
Charisse Tierney (15:14):
Right.
So she, she had a prettytumultuous early life.
There's a lot to that story.
She faced everything fromexperiencing and witnessing
physical abuse to herself andher mother as like a three and
four yearold, to experiencingher biological father.
(15:41):
She was estranged from him formany years and she also, as she
got into high school, earlycollege years, she struggled
with some alcohol, drugaddiction.
And so I and one of her who isher dad to her he was
(16:08):
technically a stepfather, butwho was the father figure who
was in her life for the longestand who did wonderful things for
her.
His name was Rusty, wonderfulthings for her.
His name was Rusty and I spokewith him and he shared a story
of kind of her rock bottommoment where she had had some
struggles with alcohol and drugs.
And he realized one night shewas just out of her mind, she
(16:32):
was on something.
He wasn't sure what to do, whatit was.
He had a friend he thoughtmight have an idea and be able
to help called him.
He said I think she probablyneeds to go to the hospital and
get some help, you know, and sohe was trying to get her to get
in the car to go.
It was getting difficult to pinher down and get her to agree
to go and out of the blue, agreeto go and out of the blue.
(17:00):
And before this in her life shereally didn't have a lot of
structured religion.
If there was anything in herlife she had experienced, it was
of a Protestant faith, butthere really wasn't anything
consistent or regular that sheexperienced growing up.
And so, out of the blue, in thestate she was in, she suddenly
said I need a Bible, I need toread the Bible.
(17:21):
And Rusty said she had neversaid anything like this before
and he finally got her to go tothe hospital by telling her
we're going to the Bible store,because he just couldn't get her
to make any sense.
And she got in the car, hemanaged to get her there and
pulled up to the hospital andhe's like we're at the Bible
store, let's go in.
(17:41):
So looking back, he finds thestory a little humorous because
fortunately they were able toget her in there and get her the
help that she needed and shedid go into rehab for about six
weeks right after that.
And she did go into rehab forabout six weeks right after that
, but it was during that time inrehab that she picked up a
Bible and started to read it,really read it for the first
(18:05):
time.
Her husband thinks that waslikely the first time she'd
really read any Bible and shewould pick it up and randomly
read a scripture passage, andthen the next time they had
chapel at the rehab center, thatwould happen to be the passage
that the chaplain would read andtalk about.
(18:25):
And this happened several timesthat she would randomly read
something, and the next time shewent into chapel that's the
scripture passage that wasspoken about.
And so she started to thinkwhat's going on here?
There's something happening,and what she was reading started
to really speak to her and moveher, and that was when she
(18:47):
really turned around.
She started to turn around.
Rehab was a big help.
She wasn't fully healed at thatpoint when she left rehab, but
she had definitely turned acorner, um.
And then it wasn't long afterthat that she met just a few
weeks after she met, her husband, Nick and um.
Ever since then, the, the bible, was the truly the living word
(19:13):
for her and she, as Father saidin his homily.
He said she read it.
Not, she never did read it as ahistorical text or just a book.
You know she read it assomething to be absorbed and
lived and to really listen toand pay attention to and
(19:35):
consider it as God speaking toher.
So the Bible really was theturning point for her.
Sheila Nonato (19:46):
So the incident you mentioned when Rusty was
going to take her to thehospital, that was her sort of
rock bottom moment and sort ofthe addiction that she was
facing and the Bible sort of.
There was something stirring inher even before that that she
(20:07):
was interested in reading it,although she was facing these
challenges, these struggles.
But there was something withinher that she was yearning to to
read scripture.
Where was that coming from, doyou know?
Charisse Tierney (20:24):
I don't know Cause I I asked Rusty had she
ever talked about that beforethat moment?
And he said, not that I know ofyou know it's.
It's kind of seems to be justthis divine intervention.
Um, in that, in that moment,that that's where god was really
(20:44):
stepping in to save her.
Um, I know, I mean she had someother.
Of course, as I said, she livedthrough some physical abuse and
witnessing that and the traumaof that.
And and then, um, her estrangedfather and she had and
witnessing that and the traumaof that, and then her estranged
father and she had come throughthat and survived that.
And there were a couple ofseparate times when she was
(21:08):
under the influence and sherolled her car two separate
times and Rusty was the one whohelped her out of those
predicaments.
He was able to come and get hercar back over with his truck
that he had.
And he just said it was thestrangest thing because not even
a window was cracked and shewas completely unharmed both
(21:29):
times.
And he and I were talking it'sjust as if God had this purpose
in mind for her from thebeginning were talking.
It's just as if God had thispurpose in mind for her from the
beginning, which does also.
That was affirmed when herhusband Nick, after she passed
or no, when she was sick he wasspeaking with a priest about her
(21:50):
and telling him all about her,and he said the priest was just
like oh, that's so beautiful,she was chosen for this and for
this purpose.
So I think sometimes we're notsure where these seeds are
planted or where they come from.
Maybe there was some tiny seedplanted somewhere.
But if you just give God alittle, he'll step in and take
(22:18):
that bigger leap that needs tohappen to take care of you.
Sheila Nonato (22:24):
And so, during your work, your interviews,
towards writing the book, youdiscovered that one of, I guess,
the saving graces that you haddiscovered was an unexpected
pregnancy.
How did that fit into this?
(22:45):
sort of miraculous story ofhealing and redemption,
Charisse Tierney (22:47):
Right.
So yeah, she, like I said, shemet her husband, nick, a couple
of weeks after coming out ofrehab and and he he told me.
He said, when she told me abouther past he said I couldn't
believe that was the same person.
She had changed so much even atthat point.
And her stepdad, rusty, saidonce she became a mom he
(23:10):
couldn't believe that was thesame person because he knew her
when she had been struggling somuch.
So there was a bigtransformation there.
But she and Nick had beendating for not for very long, he
said.
And yeah, she realized she waspregnant and, of course, very
(23:33):
anxious about it at first, veryworried.
At that point she and Nickweren't even sure where their
relationship was heading exactly.
And Nick finally told her Ithink you should go talk to
Rusty, your stepdad.
He's helped you through so much.
Go talk to him, he'll know howto guide you through this.
And she did.
And he just said you know, Ithink God placed this child in
(23:56):
your life for some reason andbrought you and Nick together
for a reason, and I think youneed to give him a chance and
keep dating him and just seewhere it goes.
And there was always theintention that that baby would
be born.
And then she agreed you know,yes, we'll try, we'll give this
(24:20):
a try.
And of course then we knoweventually they did get married,
nick and Jaylen.
They Kyson was born, and thenit was a couple of years after
that they did get married andthat they had their challenges.
I know they had.
(24:42):
Sometimes they went throughsome marriage counseling
together.
Every marriage has strugglesfrom time to time.
But they stuck it out.
And so her Stepdad, rusty, hesaid and Kyson is her oldest
son's name and he said Kyson andNick saved her.
He said I couldn't haveimagined her ever having the
(25:04):
capability of being responsibleenough to be a mom until she had
to be.
And then she really stepped upand that that baby saved her.
And so did Nick.
And after she passed I talked toand Nick had told me several
times too, though he's like well, she saved me Because when he
(25:28):
met her he said he didn't feelhe was as devout in the faith as
he could have been, but onceshe converted she really drew
him in and it really bolsteredhis faith life.
And then, when I talked toKyson after she passed he's 13
now.
He said, yeah, dad always saysthat mom saved him and this is
(25:55):
this little baby that she was soanxious about.
And here he was sitting talkingto me about how, because of her
, now he's not afraid of deathanymore.
And he said I miss her and Iget sad sometimes, but I'm so
happy because I know where sheis.
(26:15):
And he just had thisauthenticity and faith and
fervor in the way he spoke.
It made me think of her and herlast days and the way that she
spoke and I said how has thataffected your personal faith
(26:37):
life?
And he said, "h yeah, I used tothink of church as a chore, but
now I get excited to go and Ithought what a gift that she
left him.
And now he's this light in theworld, reflecting so much that's
so similar to the way she was,and all from this baby and this
(26:59):
unexpected circumstance that sheaccepted and took a chance on
and jumped into wholeheartedly.
Sheila Nonato (27:09):
Beautiful, and can you tell me when did she
convert?
Was it after going throughrehab not too long after that,
or did it take her a few yearsto come into the church?
Charisse Tierney (27:24):
Right.
It took a few years.
It was in 2017 that she joinedthe church, so that was actually
just before I met her.
So I saw her as this on-fireconvert.
When I first met her, and, yeah, I couldn't.
I was much like Nick.
I couldn't believe the thingsshe told me about her former way
(27:46):
of life, but it was, yeah.
When she met Nick, she said,well, any church I know at all
is a Protestant church and maybeyou could come with me to one
of those, because she knew hewas Catholic and church was
becoming a subject they werediscussing, and so he went with
(28:10):
her and he's like I don't know,you know?
And then he said, well, whydon't you come with me to a
Catholic Mass?
And he said, well, the firsttime she went to mass, she
described it as a cult becauseshe just didn't understand it,
and it seemed so formulated withall of the kneeling and the
standing and the responses thatare the same every time and all
(28:30):
of that.
But as she kept going andreading the Bible, it started to
make a little more sense to her.
And then it came time to sendtheir kids to school, and Nick
was Catholic and he was likewell, we send our kids to
Catholic school, you know, andshe was open to that because she
(28:53):
just she didn't want to sendthem to public school.
So she said, okay, let's dothat.
And they started coming homewith the religion papers and
things that they were learningin school and she said I want to
understand more about whatthey're learning in school.
Like, I don't fully understandall of this myself and this is
where I'm sending my children.
I want to understand this.
(29:14):
So that's when she reallystarted picking up more books
about the faith stories of thesaints and reading more and more
about it.
And Nick said she just neverlooked back, she just believed
everything and she tookeverything to heart and believed
it 100% and then started goingto R.
(29:38):
C.
I.
A.
(Rite of Christian Initiationof Adults, now known as the
Order of Christian Initiation ofAdults or O.
C.
I.
A.
), mostly again at first just tolearn more about the faith, but
then it was all over after thatmore about the faith, but then
it was all over.
After that she started learningmore and decided that he said
once she believed and wasconvinced that Jesus Christ
founded the Catholic Church andif he founded it, then anything
(30:01):
the church taught has to be trueand we have to live that way
because it came from Jesus.
And he said he does think byreading the Bible and taking it
in as a living word, the livingword the way she did.
She had developed thisrelationship with Jesus and God
first, so she had that ferventlove for Jesus and therefore
(30:27):
anything that he said she wasgoing to do and live 100%.
So by having that relationshipfirst and then hearing the maybe
quote, unquote rules as wethink of them sometimes in the
church, they weren't rules toher.
They were this person she lovedwith all her heart, showing her
(30:51):
how to be who he created her tobe and that's all she wanted.
And so that's when I knew herand I was just always amazed at
the Catechesis of the GoodShepherd trainings and Bible
studies.
She was always asking questionsand always trying to make sure
she really understood everything.
And Nick said she was alwaysreading and he's like she didn't
(31:16):
just read and think well,that's a nice thing that that
saint did, or that's a nicedevotion.
She read it and said I have tolive this way, we need to do
this now.
And this was before she everhad the cancer diagnosis and she
was relentless with that.
It was that way for the rest ofher life.
Sheila Nonato (31:38):
And, as you again , in your research you found
many beautiful things in the waythat she was living holiness in
her daily life.
Like you were mentioning that,you found out that she was very
serious about her faith, thatshe got a flip phone, that she
(31:58):
moved the TV to their basement,that her house was simple and
decluttered.
She really wanted to hear Godand get out all the distractions
.
Is that sort of what you havediscovered?
Charisse Tierney (32:13):
Oh, yes, yeah, and I was in her home a lot.
It was always so peaceful andyou could definitely tell that
the presence of God was there,especially at the end.
But yeah, Nick, her husbandsaid she got to a point.
She said I don't want the TV uphere, we need to move it out.
(32:33):
And he said, well, I'll put itin the basement and the room
where the TV had been became herreading room, her space, her
quiet space.
And he said when he got homefrom work at the end of each day
she'd always go into her roomand read for at least an hour
and she just wanted that quietreading, prayer time.
He said he would try to get herto maybe come in and watch a
(32:56):
movie with the family sometimes,which of course she would at
times.
But he said there was alwaysthat priority of getting her
quiet time in or of reading orof praying.
That always came first.
And, um, he said I kind of feltbad because there were moments
I felt a little jealous.
She was just always putting Godfirst, which of course he knows
(33:19):
.
He said that's how it should be.
And he's like I wish I wasbetter at that all the time and
I wish that's just how shealways was.
Yeah, she got a flip phone, Iremember when she did that and
yeah, it got to be a littleharder to get a hold of her
sometimes, but she just wasgetting more disconnected from
(33:40):
the world and more connectedwith God in that way, more
connected with God in that way,and she really continued to
pursue that.
Another thing that struck me Iwas listening back to an
interview just last night withher husband and he was talking
about her practice of prayer andhow she was so good at
(34:01):
imaginative prayer, of reallyenvisioning the scripture
passage or Jesus or Mary rightthere with her and really
putting herself in that momentwith them.
And he says she just shepracticed it a lot.
You know, I think sometimes weread about these things and we
(34:23):
try to do them for a while andeither give up or fall away, but
she just kept at it and thenkept getting better at it and
going deeper into it by herpractice of it.
Sheila Nonato (34:37):
And so all of this was it seems like it was
preparing her.
I'm sorry I'm going to cry,because I watched the video that
you did about her and it wasjust I mean, just before we did
the interview, so it was just sobeautiful.
Like I'm thinking about HolyWeek this is why I'm getting
teary eyed.
Is that we're going to bejourneying towards Calvary and
(35:02):
awaiting the resurrection?
How did Jalyn carry the crossof her terminal illness?
Can you please tell us?
Charisse Tierney (35:11):
Right, I've been thinking about this a lot
too.
How does one suffer so well?
And I had talked to Nick aboutthat and because the comment he
made was she surrenderedeverything.
And yes, all of that she haddone before.
The diagnosis certainlyprepared her for that, it
strengthened her.
(35:31):
But, and Nick just said onceshe gave everything to God and
surrendered everything,everything fell into place and
it just worked out so well.
And I was like, wait, a lot ofpeople would not see this that
way.
You know, how do you call hergetting a terminal illness and
(35:53):
dying and leaving four youngchildren working out well, you
know, how do we justify that toa world that would certainly,
for the most part, not see thatin that way?
And Jalen was very inspired bythe spirituality of St Therese,
st Faustina I think sheespecially loved the childlike
(36:13):
way of St Therese and I knowthis is familiar, this idea she
had from the words of St Therese.
But he said she would say thatyou know, this world is just a
boat and we're just passingthrough and it's just made.
We're just here for whatever ittakes to get us to heaven and
(36:36):
to God.
And he said so if we're notmade for this world.
Then he said it had to happenthat way for her.
She had to go through that.
That was her boat, that she wason, that was her way of being
purified and getting to God andto Heaven.
And he said so that's why itworked so well.
(36:57):
And I just thought that was abeautiful way to think about it,
that any suffering that we gothrough, any hardships or
challenges that we have, um,that that's, that's our boat,
that's our lot, and that's it'sjust a means to this glorious
(37:20):
end that we're all trying to getto.
And she saw that and she livedit and she embraced it and she
allowed others to see that, asher husband said, there was so
much more fruit born by thatthan just for her, and I think
(37:43):
she must have had anunderstanding of that, that that
was part of her purpose.
I think she must have had anunderstanding of that, that that
was part of her purpose.
When she was entering her finalweeks, she was on hospice and it
got to be where she was hangingon for two and three weeks,
longer than they really thoughtshe would.
And the hospice nurse said Idon't know why she's still
(38:04):
hanging on.
I haven't really seen thisbefore and she's like I think
God has some purpose for this.
I just don't know why she'sstill hanging on.
I haven't really seen thisbefore and she's like I think
God has some purpose for this.
I just don't know what it is.
But in that time people werevisiting her and seeing her and
being inspired by her and shewould always say I don't
understand why people are soinspired by me.
And Nick said she just keptsaying that and he said I
(38:25):
realized she was not actuallydoing this for anybody, she
wasn't trying to look a certainway, it was all for love of God,
it was all because she was inlove with of pain meds.
Sheila Nonato (38:48):
Join us for part two of Jaylen's story, where we
hear of her courageous battleand her journey towards Jesus,
her journey towards carrying herown cross and her path to
holiness.
Co-Host (39:21):
Thank you and God bless .
Thank you for listening to theVeil and Armour podcast.
I invite you to share this withanother Catholic mom today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel and please
spread the word.
Let's Be Brave, let's Be Boldand Be Blessed together.
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