– From the very beginning we felt very strongly that God was leading us and that He drove us to meet and be together till this day – Rafał Cycoń began his testimony. He talked about misfortunes in his love life, which at some point led him to consider the priesthood. However, one bishop made him realize that negative motivation is not good. From priests who had already discerned their vocation, Rafał heard that the seed of the desire to fulfill a specific vocation in a person’s life is sown by God and one must look deeply into one’s heart to notice this desire.
Rafał then realized that his desire was not to be a priest. He went to Częstochowa where, in front of the image of the Mother of God, he entrusted his heart to the Lord. He prayed: “Lord God, if this is Your will, then Your plan will be fulfilled, but right now I do not feel like I want to be a priest. My current heart’s desire is to be a husband and a father. I trust that if this is also Your plan for my life, You will place the right woman on my path.”
He returned to Krakow full of trust in God’s Providence and with a sense of freedom of heart. He began to be open to relationships and go on dates with renewed hope. When he or the girl he had agreed to meet knew that this was not it – he did not feel rejected and was certain that God was watching over him and had the best plan for him. One evening he was riding his bike back from work. On the bike path, he met a friend who was just going to Mass for the Gift of Married Life. Staszek convinced him to come along. And so, completely by accident, he ended up at St. Stephen’s Church that evening.
Similarly, by coincidence, Ania appeared at St. Stephen’s Church that evening. Her friend Marta had just gotten engaged and asked Ania to come to the Mass with her and pray for her and her future husband. Just before the Mass, it turned out that her friend would not make it to church that evening, so Ania went alone.
She recalls that the sermon was about the miraculous parting of the Red Sea for the Israelites. She felt distincly that in this area of love, the Red Sea had not yet been parted. Earlier, she had even considered whether she should find her place in the Church as a lay evangelist. However, during the Ignatian retreats she had previously attended, she realized that her heart’s desire was to be a wife and mother. She was already in her thirties, but no suitable candidate for a husband had yet appeared in her life. During the adoration after the Holy Mass, she decided to entrust herself the Lord anew. “If the Red Sea parted for the Israelites, then a breakthrough can also occur in my life,” she thought. “Lord God, You can do anything. I believe that You have the best plan for my life,” she prayed in her heart and worshiped Him with song, in a great sense of gratitude and freedom.
When the worship ended, she was about to leave. Then, the guy who was sitting in the pew in front of her turned to her and said that she sang very beautifully. They started talking. It turned out that they had common interests and the conversation flowed freely. At the end of this short meeting, Rafał asked Ania for her phone number.
The next day they met at a worship concert in the Town Square. A week later, Rafał asked Ania to go to the World Youth Day in Panama together. Before making a decision, Ania wanted to have a “serious talk” with him because she wanted to get to know him better before she decided to go to the other side of the world with him. They made plans to attend a Mass on October 22, the commemoration of St. John Paul II, during which Ania, through his intercession, asked for the light of the Holy Spirit about what she should do. After, Rafał sincerely said that he really liked her and asked if she would like to try dating, because it seemed to him that they could create a great relationship together. And so, a week after meeting, they were already a couple. In Panama, before the vigil with Pope Francis, they got engaged, and less than a year after meeting, they got married.
– It sounds a bit crazy, but all this time, from the very beginning and basically until now, we felt that God was giving us signals that this was it – says Rafał and tells how in the first month of knowing each other they went on holidays to Sicily – in the retreat house, where they were staying, they were invited to… a pre-marital course, the topic of which was how to recognize if the person you got engaged to is the right one.
Apart from specific signs from God, Ania noticed one more thing. – Besides the fact that we liked each other, for several months we asked ourselves very different questions – especially those from the “uncomfortable” category – about values, about what we want in life, about our personalities and temperaments – says Anna Marek-Cycoń, emphasizing that apart from the emotional area, the unity of values is important. – We were in love, but we saw that we were also looking in the same direction – towards God, faith, family – she adds.
Rafał recalls, after St. Augustine, that “if God is put first, then everything is in the right place”. He also mentioned the image of the triangle, on the vertices of which God, man and woman are placed – if both of them go towards God, then at the same time they also come closer to each other.
The testimony of Ania and Rafał in the Basilica of St. Florian was accompanied by a fragment of Psalm 37: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act”. – Firstly, trust in the Lord God. And secondly, do not lose hope. I think it is worth trusting the desire of our hearts. The Lord has a plan for each of us and He wants to give us hope so that we do not give in to discouragement – advised Ania, at the same time pointing out that every relationship carries a risk, which is an inherent part of faith.
In this context, Rafał added that God works in people’s lives, but they also have free will. He encouraged openness to others and courage, because if we take the first step, despite various fears, it may turn out to be the beginning of a beautiful life adventure.
