Like a trip to the mountains

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Like a trip to the mountains

Author: Testimony,
"Love One Another!" 40/2017
Testimonies

From the time that we joined the MPH, we tried to live differently, standing back up after every fall, and seeking closeness with God.

Like a trip to the mountains

We’re still newlyweds. We had our first anniversary in May. Before we met each other we were already both members of the Movement of Pure Hearts. The first time we met was at one of the MPH meetings. But at that time there were no “sparks” between us. Two months later there was a three-day Lenten MPH retreat in Częstochowa. Once again, there was little more than basic greetings between us; we were asking each other meaningless questions. In the evening there was a service of intercessory prayer. When I approached the priest so that he could pray over me, I asked, among other things, for a good wife. I received an incredibly joyful gift: the next day, Sunday, when I saw Irene I became captivated with her. It was like she was a completely different person. After that, I was constantly thinking of her.

That very Sunday, as she was putting her musical instruments in their cases, I went up to her and said: “I love the way you play the guitar”. She was getting the drift of where I was coming from, and she later confirmed that she had seen that gleam in my eyes. So this time there were sparks between us. From that time we were in constant contact by e-mail, up until April 30, when we met at a vigil in praise of St. Joseph. At this event I was sending Irene unambiguous signs, which for her reinforced what she had recognized at the retreat.

From that time on, we started meeting each other regularly, and the friendship deepened. Even though before we met each other we were both caught up in a variety of sinful activities, in negative relationships and commitments, from the time that we joined the MPH, we tried to live differently, standing back up after every fall, and seeking closeness with God. We went to more vigils, to MPH meetings, to parties, for pizza, and to the movies. On our first date I brought Irene a relic of Bl. Karolina Kózkówna which was at our house on a peregrination. This was really a dream come true for Irene – to have a visit from Bl. Karolina’s relic. We prayed for a long time, and from then on we prayed together every day. We even shared distance-praying, by text messages at a specific time.

For us the engagement period was a beautiful time in our lives, but difficult at the same time: frankly speaking, the struggle to maintain chastity isn’t easy

In June we went to an MPH vigil in Częstochowa. When Irene prayed for a good husband, and I for a good wife, at some point I took her hand, and for a moment we were “paralyzed”. I suggested to Irene that we should go to the icon of the Blessed Mother and entrust our relationship to her. The only problem that remained was deciding whether we should hold hands or not when we were going back to the room where everyone else was meeting.

After that when we got together we went to mass frequently to invite Jesus into our relationship and to pray for each other together. We tried to make the most of the time we spent together. We took precautions to make sure to avoid any occasion for sins of impurity. Irene never dressed provocatively. The first time I ever kissed her was several months after that vigil at Częstochowa. It wasn’t for many months after that I told her I loved her for the first time, because for us the words “I love you” meant a choice, and a state of being, not just a pleasant feeling.

The most important task in our lives is to lead each other to sanctity and help each other become better people. And this is an extremely difficult task

Months had passed and in April during a vigil to St. Joseph I determined to propose to her. I popped the question in the St. Joseph chapel. It was 13 months from that first March meeting to April of the next year when I proposed to Irene. From our engagement to the wedding was another 13 months. Thirteen – the number of Our Lady of Fatima. Our wedding took place in May – a Marian month – on the feast of the Visitation.

For us the engagement period was a beautiful time in our lives, but difficult at the same time: frankly speaking, the struggle to maintain chastity isn’t easy. There are some great temptations. It’s like a trip to the mountains: climbing up is hard, it’s tough to reach the top, but once you arrive, you can rest and enjoy the beautiful views. The struggle with temptation is similar, but if we accept the challenge, the fruits of the effort are wonderful. One of the fruits is the joy that I can give my spouse – the gift of purity, which cost me a lot of hard work. The most important thing is that even if this chastity is stained with serious sin, it can always be regained by sincerely resolving to correct yourself and going penitently to confession. Even if someone falls and has sex before marriage, it doesn’t mean that they are excluded. Virginity, of course, cannot be recovered, but you can always start over to build up your chastity – the chastity of your heart. You can tell yourself: “from now on, I will remain chaste”.

Now that we are married we can say sincerely that our struggle to maintain chastity paid off. Thanks to this we could get to know each other better, talk with each other, and enter into our married life with pure hearts and bodies – with all the best that we could offer each other. We know that if we had had sex before we married, that it wouldn’t be true love, but rather enormous egoism. We would have been using each other, and not loving each other.

We are enormously grateful to God for protecting us from this offence and helping us. If it hadn’t been for Him and our prayer together, and our clear, specific intention, we would not have been able to manage. We still pray together every day and go to mass and other services together because we want for our life together to be built on the rock that is Jesus Christ. We know that He will always help us in our difficulties and sufferings. We entrust our lives to Him daily in the Entrustment Prayer of the Movement of Pure Hearts in Marriage. The most important task in our lives is to lead each other to sanctity and help each other become better people. And this is an extremely difficult task. But God is there and He is working for us. So praise God!

Irene and Michael Grelich

Source: https://loamagazine.org/archive/2017/2017-40/like-a-trip-to-the-mountains

The article was published with the permission from "Love One Another!" in May 2021.