In the fall of 2024, Mary felt sad and lonely, so she jotted down a little prayer to Our Lady. She asked her for a Catholic husband and placed the request in an Our Lady of Medjugorje font she’d bought when she visited the pilgrimage site in 2007.
The note said, “Mother Mary, guide me to my Catholic husband,” shares the 59-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska.
Answered prayer!
Weeks later, Mary received a message on CatholicMatch from a man named Mike from Missouri. One of the main reasons Mike messaged Mary was because she had mentioned in her profile that she had a devotion to Our Lady of Medjugorje.
“She’d been to Medjugorje and I had also been there,” recalls the 62 year old. “Another thing I noticed was Mary’s kind eyes and the sweet smile.”
Mary adds, “I couldn’t believe he messaged me. He was so cute!”
Let’s call!
After the texting back and forth nonstop for a day, Mike said to Mary, “My fingers are getting tired. Can we talk on the phone?”
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, yes!’” she recalls.
Mary couldn’t wait to talk to Mike on the phone because she couldn’t stop laughing at the jokes he texted and because they seemed to have so much in common. Both loved to teach, exercise, travel, and took part in Catholic ministries. Mike and Mary were also each looking for a Catholic who valued their faith because their first marriages (both annulled in 2019) lacked a deep faith element.
Two sisters were a part of the first date...
After hitting it off on the phone, Mike didn’t waste any time asking Mary out. The couple decided to meet in Gower, Missouri. Mary’s sister Sheila offered to road-trip with her because she too wanted to see the incorruptible body of Sr. Wilhelmina, foundress of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in Gower. The miraculous story of Sr. Wilhelmina is a relatively new one. On April 28, 2023, her remains were exhumed because the order wanted to reinter her remains. To the nuns' surprise, their foundress's unembalmed body was intact, as was her clothing. She died on May 9, 2019, and was buried in a wooden coffin, which should have hastened the rate of decay in Missouri’s moist climate.
Mary’s first glimpse of Mike was seeing him peer in the church window because he was looking for her.
Seeing Mike, Mary thought, "Oh, my gosh, a boy looking in the church for me!”
“It was the cutest thing to see him doing that,” she adds.
They viewed Sr. Wilhelmina and then attended the Latin Mass held at the Abbey. Afterward, the couple and Mary’s sister went out for dinner. Mike jokingly says he felt like he had a first date with three women: Mary, her sister Sheila, and Sr. Wilhelmina.
Sr. Wilhelmina was a part of the proposal, too!
Mike and Mary visited each other every weekend, even if it was only for one day. Many of their dates were in Kansas City, Missouri, because that was the halfway point. Mary thought the commuting was crazy, but she didn’t care because she wanted to see Mike.
“He was everything that I was looking for in a husband,” she says.
Mike felt the same about Mary, and six months into their relationship, he showed up to their date with a ring. They met up at St. Peter’s Adoration Chapel in Jefferson City to pray together.
“In the Chapel, we walked by this bookshelf and I saw this big book about Sr. Wilhelmina highlighted on this bookshelf. And I was like, ‘Oh, I guess Sister Wilhelmina is saying ‘hi,’” she recalls.
The couple lit some holy candles, and then Mike asked Mary to kneel down to say a Hail Mary. Then Mike stood up and then knelt on one knee.
“I looked over and he had a box in his hand,” she recalls.
“‘Mike said, ‘I want you to be my wife.’ I was like, ‘What?’ There were people in the chapel and I was praying. That's the last thing on earth I expected; I still feel floored by it.”
Now they're planning a fall wedding!
Mike and Mary have plans to wed on October 18, 2025, at St. Joseph Parish in Westphalia, Missouri. Mike is organizing most of the details, including having their reception at the Knight of Columbus Hall and serving pork steak for the wedding meal. Mary feels relieved that she only has to worry about choosing the dresses for herself and her bridesmaids.
The couple plans to honeymoon in the Florida Keys and later travel to Europe. These wonderful plans are coming to fruition because they found each other on CatholicMatch—along with a little divine intervention.
