When 38-year old widower Peter found 40-year old Sonia’s profile on Catholic Match in 2012, he was immediately attracted to her, mostly because she indicated she was very serious about her faith, but also because of her photos. When Sonia looked at Peter’s profile, she was attracted by his photos as well, specifically one that showed him meeting St. John Paul II.
They do say it’s not what you know, but who you know.
Peter and Sonia met once or twice (they were both Canadian and lived less than a half-hour from each other), but unfortunately the passing of Peter’s first wife still hung heavy on him, making him unwilling to embark on another relationship. Nevertheless they liked each other enough that, though they stopped dating, they stayed in touch via email.
About a year later, the cloud of his grief hung less heavily on Peter, and he suggested they should start meeting again. His attraction to her hadn’t gone away, and he was starting to feel ready for a new relationship. On his birthday that year, they went out together and he worked up the nerve to try for a kiss.
But Sonia was too quick for him. As he moved in to kiss her, she turned her face so that his would-be romantic kiss became a friendly peck on the cheek. The message was clear: she wasn’t interested in being anything but friends. Peter took the hint and friends they remained until early 2014. That’s when something rather wonderful happened.
Peter fell seriously ill.
That itself wasn’t especially wonderful, as it landed him a three-month incarceration in the hospital. However, once he was out of the ICU, Sonia came to see him. Actually, she came quite a lot: almost every week, as a matter of fact. As he did his time in the hospital, Peter began to wonder whether if there might not be something other than friendship there after all…
Once his term of medical correction was up, Peter again asked Sonia to let him take her out on his birthday once again, to thank her for her most welcome visits. Exactly one year after his first foiled attempt at a kiss, he summoned his courage and tried again.
This time, she didn’t turn away.
Two years later, in 2016, Peter and Sonia took a trip together to Rome for the canonization of St. Teresa of Calcutta. It wasn’t the first trip they’d been on as a couple: the year previous Peter had joined Sonia on a trip to visit her family in Peru. But this one was going to be even more special. Part of the itinerary included a week in Paris before moving on to Rome. On the last night of their stay in the City of Love, with the Eiffel Tower glittering behind them and the Seine beneath their feet, Peter proposed.
The Popes that blessed their marriage
They were married a year later, on August 5th 2017, almost five years after first meeting on Catholic Match. Peter’s friend, a deacon, gave the Homily, where he described how marriage related to a baseball scorecard (which Peter, an avid baseball fan, appreciated greatly). Sonia’s parents flew in from Peru, and an honor guard of Knights of Columbus escorted her down the aisle like a princess.
For their honeymoon, Peter and Sonia returned to Rome, where they were fortunate enough to receive favors from two separate Popes.
On the last day of their trip, they attended the Sposi Novelli Audience with Pope Francis, hoping to be fortunate enough to exchange a few words with him.
“We weren’t sure what to expect as the Pope was walking around the audience area without his zucchetto because his had blown off in the wind,” Sonia recalled.
Peter came armed with a spare zucchetto for the Pope, they made their way as far up the crowd as possible, and waited with baited breath. As the Pope came around, Peter called “Papa! Papa!" and held out the new zucchetto to him. His Holiness took it, put it upon his head for a short while, and then returned it to them.
“Sonia burst into tears of excitement,” Peter said, noting it was the best souvenir they got on their honeymoon.
Some days before this, the newlyweds had been blessed by another Pope as well. They’d taken the tour of the crypts underneath the Basilica, and afterwards they both decided to spend some time praying together at the tomb of St. John Paul II. Later that day, they received a text message that a friend of theirs–from Poland–had gotten the job she had wanted. As they exclaimed over this news, they realized something: both of them had, in fact, been asking the sainted Holy Father for exactly that.
Since they have been married, Peter and Sonia have found they’ve both needed to make some major adjustments. Sonia has to rise at what seems to Peter an indecently early hour to make her commute to work, while he works from home and habitually doesn’t rise until it’s time for daily Mass. There’s also the fact that they both snore: “We’re quickly learning that ear plugs can save a couple from trouble,” they commented. But these adjustments have been well worth it for a marriage so tried and so blessed.
Continue Reading
