Loreto House Feat. Dorianne Acosta
Loreto House Creative Feat. Dorianne Acosta
Contributor // Catholic Blogger, Dorianne Acosta
Social Media //
Instagram | @dorianneacosta
Loreto House Creative is excited to feature Dorianne Acosta, a Catholic Blogger, to the community! Without any further delay, let’s get to know Grace!
Here is a little background of who Dorianne is and what she’s all about!
Dorianne is a Cradle-Catholic that loves her faith, loves style, fashion, family and defending life. She loves learning about the saints from the Church, and is an advocate of St. Joseph, the rosary and the Holy Family 🤍
“Love sharing my faith on social media. Studied marketing in college way back and have been working for more than 4 years in the marketing department.”
What’s great about Dorianne is how she is a part of the world, but not of it. Similarly to myself, she uses her social platform to bring others to Christ, since her “day job” doesn’t directly reflect that. However, I’m sure being who Dorianne is, people KNOW her Faith and where she stands on matters just by who she is in the workplace. Sometimes, you are a greater witness to the Faith when your immediate surroundings aren’t Catholic and you have to be the light to others, because there is no one else doing it. What a beautiful thing Dorianne is doing by channeling her Catholic Faith via her social media.
Y’all I had Dorianne share her conversion story and I’m going to place all of it in here because I know many of us have experienced the exact same thing. (Especially related to Covid)
“Yes, I would say that I've had multiple reconversion stories. But the one that helped me have the "effeta moment" and felt that he saved me from my most vulnerable place and dark place was last year during covid.
When covid started, I was almost scared to death about the covid situation when I saw numbers of deaths crippling on the media. I was so scared that I would stay away from people, and had ocd symptoms. I would do the craziest things to feel clean and not have a "trace" of covid on my clothes, hair, etc. I was too scared that I even developed acne that I never had before because of stress and the use of masks too. I would even disinfect my grocery and shopping items to the extreme. I was scared to death really! Horrible phase that I had. Disclaimer: I still disinfect food packagings because the supermarket that I work in and shop in still feels like there's a lot of dirt in everything 😅 still battling with this one. But it's not as severe as last year.
However, during those moments, I remember that I would keep reading the daily readings and the explanation of the daily readings and it kind of helped me little by little to be close to God. It was like the beginning of a divine journey through scripture with the Lord. Even though sometimes I wouldn't understand to be completely honest (back then I didn't know what was the meaning of receiving graces- I was a lukewarm Catholic but still looking for truth even though I had no idea of some truths and mysteries of my faith) and watching mass online helped me during that phase (especially in the homilies).
With this crazy and scary phase of suffering, the Lord was there with me. Being alone in my new apartment and also seeing the US elections and my home-state (PR) elections, made me realize that I had to pray more. Also, what didn't help was watching tv. It was consuming my joy and my mental state.
I think that realizing that living in that phase of distancing was a curse and a blessing. It was a moment of true encounter with Christ. Mother Mary helped me during this journey and St. Michael the Archangel as well.
One "effeta moment" that made me realize that my fears of contamination was a phrase that my mom said to me (well two):
1. Jesus heals everything. What should you fear?
2. Watching Mass on TV is not the same as going to church.
Those thoughts made me question and ponder my spiritual life and relying on God to surrender every fear. And I think that was the beginning of a beautiful journey. I lost fear of kneeling and not being afraid of "contamination" and I was trying to heal as well spiritually and emotionally (though still healing, but I'm in a much better state right now) and I had a beautiful confession that I started to receive graces and acknowledge that Jesus Christ was in the Eucharist and that He truly heals all of our wounds (inner wounds-spiritual ones).
Obviously. I still may have fears but when I feel those urges of fear I think of Jesus, do quick prayers and remember that Jesus can truly heal anything from you so that you can keep growing and have a better relationship with Him. 🤍
Finally, all I can say is that Instagram was and still is a catechesis tool to heal, comprehend, learn about the saints lives and contributions to the Church and be a voice of God in a world that is so immersed in earthly things.
Jesus truly heals, it may be physical, emotional and spiritual. “
I must say, Dorianne, you touched many heart strings in my own heart after reading this. I think first of all, for me personally, it is such a beautiful feeling to know how I am not alone. None of us are. I think so many of us experience lukewarm Catholicism not just once, but multiple times in a lifetime. I think that’ because we are human and we do need graces to pick us back up. Life is like a roller coaster, and it is just beautiful to know that we all truly go through these moments in life.
Dorianne’s mom spoke some truth and I’ll mention it again:
1. Jesus heals everything. What should you fear?
2. Watching Mass on TV is not the same as going to church.
I know I absolutely forget that Jesus can truly heal EVERYTHING. And honestly, kudos to her mom for speaking the truth about virtual Mass. It is not the same and I hope and pray we are all able to return to our churches as soon as possible.
Dorianne’s “why” is short and sweet, but to the point and so needed in today’s world.
I use my instagram account to evangelize and share truths no matter if they hurt.
Dorianne also says that in order to differentiate yourself, stick to what you LIKE to share on social media. Wow...so good. It’s a tricky tightrope to walk because we want to minister to our audience but we need to make sure we are still giving content that we actually LIKE to talk about. Only then will our passion be seen.
When you do things in a hurry or in stress, things won't go out as you may have planned.
Okay I am extremely guilty of this and wow, does Dorianne have a point. I, without fail, always end up making mistakes when I’m in a hurry (I’m not detail-oriented) and it absolutely does not go according to plan. Thank you Jesus for keeping me humble. Push yourself to stay ahead of the game and press in when you find yourself lagging because you know it will be worth it!
Finally, Dorianne shares a beautiful piece of advice that we can all learn from -
When it comes to posting religious posts on my insta, I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me or say to the Lord, this is for you. I do it with the will of helping others.
Thank you Jesus for speaking through Dorianne! This absolutely guarantees that what you are posting is others focused and in the business of helping others.
I must say that I enjoyed reading Dorianne’s contribution and I hope you did as well. Let’s please all give Dorianne a like, follow, and share because she is doing some wicked awesome work. Until next time!
Love, LHC
