(1) The whole Program 3 had been offered to Our Lady long before it began

(2) Just before hour zero

(3) Topic 1: “Culture Invited Home”

(4) Workshop summary

(5) Though we talk in foreign languages, the problems are not foreign at all

(6) Paul John, the youngest Coach in this Program

(7) Matthew Spielberg-Cuarón was shooting a film about the Program

(8) Meal time (Marychu & Juan Manuel,  Agnieszka on the far right, first row: Pepe and Armin)

(9) Song of songs festival 😉

(10) Workshop in the English-speaking group

(11) Think-tank with the Coaches of the Polish group – Dosia and  Jarek – before Workshop 6

(12) Workshop-workout: Yes, we can!

(13) Take your time to prepare a good strategy for this one!

(14) The Programs Co-Author, Agnieszka Rogalska, arrived from Warsaw for the Holy Mass

(15) The Mass with the Renewal of Marriage Vows – celebrated by a “Befriended Priest from Poland”

(16) We were joined by our Friends – the Graduates of Programs from Wrocław

(17) Renewed in love

(18) And they lived long and happily ever after

Photos: Małgorzata Rybak (1), (3) and (6), Danusia Opala (16), (17), (18), Beatriz Gonzalez – the remaining ones

Without priests willing to cooperate with the Family Support Foundation there is no future for the Love and Life Programs. That is why we are very happy and honored to be able to publish the vidoes through which we can meet Fr. Michael Voithofer from St. James and Fr. Bill Safranek, the Pastor at St. Joanne d’Arc parish in Omaha, Nebraska. Fr. Michael and Fr. Bill have taken part in the preparation process to present the I+YOU=WE Program. We’re hoping that in autumn Fr. Michael will be able to present the Program on his own, together with the Coach Couples from our FamilyCare Center of Omaha.

We would like to wish Fr. Michael and Fr. Bill many blessings and graces of the Holy Spirit on this journey! Thank you so much for joining us!

Photos by Łukasz Czechyra

In the so called “heart of Europe” this time we
greeted Father Darek. This was a beautiful and fruitful
time, a big thankyou! As usual, we had also a lot of fun:
children played around on mountains of mattresses and
pillows, they visited goats and played on the playground.
Meanwhile, adults discovered the ancient art of eating
without (forgotten) cutlery and of making a grill on a
completely rusty grate. It was a bit like the story of five
loaves of bread and two fish – we gave what we could give
and God has done the rest.

I wonder what culinary adventure
we will have next time? One thing is certain – there’s a
spiritual adventure coming…

Agnieszka and Rafal from Brussels

On October 13th, when Pope Francis consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a small group of the Holy Family met for the first time in Brussels. It is yet to early to call it a real Group and other conditions must also be met so it is at the moment more like a small sparkle that will hopefully turn into a real flame.

We hosted here Father Wiesław and this was the only professional element of the whole undertaking – the rest was a more or less spontaneous improvisation. The room we rented turned out to have been rented before by someone else, so has the church, so we wandered through the convent building in a joyful pilgrimage. To have the feeling of a meal together, we ordered in Pizza Hut 18 pizzas that were duly blessed by Father Wiesław. But it was as usual: what really happened turned out to be better than our plans – we could have our Mass in peace and did not need to hurry (which would have been the case if we had organised it in the church – there was another Mass coming).

Please pray for us so that we can continue and welcome to the group as many people as possible.

Agnieszka

The beginning of the end of holidays. We hurry in the direction of the Tatra mountains. We stop at a church on our way, because it’s Sunday, and we kept packing things for so long.

A priest resembling Janosik (the real one, from the TV series) by his stature, face and even the way of speaking. An ordinary sermon about modern civilisation with its strive to make everything easy and the narrow door that Jesus recommends, And a question: “Would you like to be loved comfortably?”.

Well.. Do I love comfortably? Sometimes. Too often. Do I like such “love”? By no means.

Thank you, father Janosik.

Andrzej J.

A 6-month-old baby does not pretend. He is joyful when it leaves the mum’s breat for a while and looks into her eyes. He is afraid when he wakes up during a walk and sees the trees. I look at these big, fearful eyes and I say, “I am here, son, daddy is here’. My wife says the same and then I notice I know these words. This is the name of God. Am I so helpless and afraid in His eyes, like a child, when He says ‘Do not be afraid, I am’?

Andrzej J.

It is always such an amazing thing to be able to see God working in the intimacy of marriages. From the moment the team met Friday for dinner, until the moment we said good-bye to the Bolt’s and Fr. Jay, you could tell God was busy. He was busy making all the little details come together to make the facility be what we needed, when we needed it; to make the talks work upon the hearts of those who care enough about their marriages to take the time to make them better; to make the short nights be enough for us to face the long days ahead.

From one talk to the next, we could see the hearts of the couples be slowly moved from where they were to where He wanted them to be. With each exercise, you could see the knowledge gained to move forward and grow. With each opportunity for Confession, Adoration, Prayer, Mass, and especially Father praying over us in Polish; you could see the chains that were holding these marriages back slowly break away and let the love of our God in.

Here, two days later, I still feel immensely blessed to have been a part of the team this past weekend. I still feel blessed to have seen this retreat work wonders in my own, already good, marriage. I still feel blessed to have people like Father Jay, and Brad and Audrey Bolt as examples and reminders everyday of how to live out the vocation I have been called to. But, most of all, I feel blessed to have learned so many ways to be able to easily see the love of our Heavenly Father  through the love of the husband He has given me.

Daniele O’Toole

Coming away from the weekend retreat with Fr. Jay and the other couples, I walk away feeling extremely blessed!  This past weekend of experiencing a third retreat with Fr. Jay has proved to be another God inspired event.  It is miraculous to see God working through Fr. Jay and him being so active to respond.

In completing a retreat and getting to work as part of the Team, I can feel the grace, joy, and passion Fr. Jay has through living out his calling of shepherding couples.  I am able to see that as I observe other couples at the retreat open up and expose those truths that were hindering their relationship. Through that, hurt is released and given to God, allowing love to take place.

I experienced this at my first retreat with my husband Brad, then again at the following two retreats I have been blessed to help out at.  It is always an honor to be in Fr. Jays presence, so I will continue to pray that the Holy Spirit continues to lead his journey.  It is also a powerful example to be on a team with such strong couples. Thanks be to God for allowing this retreat to take place once again in the beautiful Diocese of Springfield.  Thanks be to God for the willingness of couples to desire to live out the Sacrament of marriage. May we all continue to pray for this powerful ministry, and that through God’s grace, will change the face of marriages.

In Christ,

Audrey Bolt

“Be fruitful and multiply!”. How many people today are willing to take this commandment seriously? Well… we are!

I would like to unite in joy and prayer with all my brothers and sisters from Poland and throughout the world.

My name is Tatiana de Melo and I have just returned from the United States where I was taking Educational Phase II in the process of becoming a FetilityCare Practioner of the Creighton Model System. Getting to know this incredible Natural Family Planning method was a true blessing. It has already changed for better my life, my marriage and is about to change so many people’s lives too.

I had the honor to meet Mikal Godziev and father Jay (well you write your names correctly in Polish) and we were very happy for being able to help a little spread the culture of life in our homelands.

We have great challenges ahead of us but assisted by God’s Grace nothing can stop us!

Tatiana