Dear Christ the King Parish,
We feel honored to be asked to share with you in this bulletin space. For those of you who don’t know us, we are long-time parishioners, Kevin and Kathy Misiewicz. We moved here in 1978 and raised eight children through church and school communities here at Christ the King. It was a great blessing for our family! I, Kathy, eventually worked part-time as a nurse and I, Kevin, taught at Notre Dame. Currently, we have 21 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. In our early years at Christ the King, we coordinated the teen group for a few years, started toddler care during two Sunday Masses, helped with OCIA sharing about the Sacrament of Matrimony, lectored, and Eucharistic ministered. Prior to our move to South Bend, we attended a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Experience. WWME started in 1968 and is in over 90 countries. The communication tools it introduced us to significantly enhanced our relationship and we continue to use them over 48 years later. As a result, we felt called to invite other married couples to this lifegiving opportunity. We have also presented on over 70 WWME Experiences. This is the 26th year where WWME recognizes World Priest Day on the last weekend of September encouraging efforts to affirm our dear priests (who are so easy to take for granted). We and other couples send the priests and seminarians in our diocese about 300 cards of affirmation and post about 50 “We Love Our Priests” yard signs that weekend. Please thank a priest with a specific quality of his or relate an instance when he had a special influence on you!
We feel excited anticipation that Worldwide Marriage Encounter is now providing on Saturday, October 25 at Christ the King a new complementary experience for married couples along with widows and widowers, who are all invited to come participate and reflect on their marriages. It will last from 9 AM to 4 PM with materials, drinks, snacks and lunch provided. It is a seven-hour experience called “God Chose You for Me.” It is designed to deepen the spiritual connection between husbands and wives, guided by a priest (from Florida), a married couple (from North Carolina), and a widow (from South Bend) who will share their personal experiences of building strong spiritual foundations within marriages. We know that parenthood and careers are important but when we said “Yes” to the Sacrament of Matrimony, the primary way God calls us to Him is through helping our spouse get to heaven. It’s time away from the kids, but we know that the better we are for each other, the better we are for our kids. Throughout the day, participants will be guided in creating a personal couple prayer developed progressively after each chapter of reflection. This prayer will serve as a daily spiritual practice, reinforcing a couple’s commitment and spiritual bond. It’ll be “like watering your marriage gardens with Miracle Grow.”
In the First Reading, God says “Woe to the complacent…stretched comfortably on their couches.” We know that we often take our spouse for granted letting other people and activities affect our listening, rather than truly listening with attentive ears and open hearts. In today’s Second Reading, we hear Saint Paul encourage Timothy to “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness.” We—husbands and wives—are called to pursue these virtues with a special emphasis because as a Sacrament we are called from our wedding day onward to be an outward sign of Christ’s love for the Church. We can live these virtues like Timothy only with mindfulness and commitment. Otherwise, we drift or tread lukewarm water. Sign-up information is in the bulletin along with handouts in the narthex. Every morning we say to each other “I love you! I will sacrifice for you!” We know that if we don’t work to make the “sacrifice” part happen, the first part isn’t true. There is no Notre Dame football game on Saturday, October 25. What does God want you to do with all of that free time? Are you willing to give your spouse an early Christmas present by making space for grace and holy moments?
Sincerely,
Kevin and Kathy
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