Victoria Mary Fach - Spectacular Marriage: 10 Surprising Ways to Divorce-Proof Your Marriage

SPECTACULAR
MARRIAGE

10 SURPRISING WAYS TO DIVORCE
PROOF YOUR MARRIAGE

Victoria Mary Fach

Copyright 2021 Victoria Mary Fach.

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All bible scriptures are taken from World English Bible (WEB), public domain.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7267-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7269-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7268-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021915869

Balboa Press rev. date: 01/17/2022

For Wes

who made my life

spectacular

Be who God meant you to be

and you will set the world on fire.

St. Catherine of Siena

CONTENTS

Everyone comes to know people in their life who have inspired them simply by their own personal witness, who have served as a source of support and encouragement to them as they live their own particular walk in life. This is especially so for those who live their calling in life well; indeed, without such relationships, it would be impossible to persevere in ones vocation. This is who Wes and Vicki Fach have been for me. My friendship with this couple has been for me not only a precious gift from God, but also both a challenge and support to me in living my own vocation as a priest, and now as a bishop, with the same excellence.

I came to know Wes and Vicki well during the years when we were involved with Worldwide Marriage Encounter, presenting weekends and serving in roles of leadership. Even when I had to step down from this involvement due to a call to work in the Roman Curia at the Vatican, our friendship continued to deepen over the years. One of the many things I learned from Marriage Encounter is that all of us in the Church need each other to live our respective vocations well. In particular, priests and married couples support each other in the unique way God has called each of them to live the nuptial mystery of life in Christ. I frequently speak about this, and perhaps some people might find it strange that I feel so affirmed and supported in my Priesthood by a happy and faithful married couple living Gods plan for their marriage well. Perhaps they think that I should feel like Im missing out on something great in life, and so I should feel sad. But I would invite them to reflect: who inspires them to live their own vocation of marriage well the happy, faithful, zealous priest, or the grumpy, cynical, disillusioned priest?

When I give the example of couples living their vocation of marriage extraordinarily well, and who challenge and affirm me in doing the same in my own vocation, Wes and Vicki Fach always come to mind. They have truly lived St. Mother Theresa of Calcuttas reminder to us that holiness in life consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things with extraordinary love. Which is why their marriage has been such an extraordinary blessing not only to them, but to all those who have been blessed to know them.

Now Vicki is living her unexpected vocation to widowhood with the same excellence and fidelity, placing her considerable intellectual and spiritual gifts at the service of those open and willing to learn from them. Spectacular Marriage: Ten Surprising Ways to Divorce-Proof Your Marriage is the fruit of her fidelity in accepting the greatest tragedy in her life the untimely loss of her beloved husband Wes as a new cross God has given her, a new form of service to Him and to others. This short but substantive book will be an invaluable aid to all couples seeking to live their vocation of marriage for what it is: a sacred calling from God to enter into a school of self-perfection, a path to holiness for themselves and a witness to others to support them in likewise responding to Gods call in their own life. Its very brevity, indeed, adds to its usefulness. Husbands and wives are busier now than ever before, but it will not be too difficult for them to make the time to read and discuss how to implement for themselves the wisdom contained in this little treasure chest.

If I may be so bold, though: there is, I believe, an eleventh way for a couple to divorce-proof their marriage that I saw demonstrated in the marital relationship between Wes and Vicki Fach that Vicki does not mention, probably because she is too humble to do so. Being a couple with such depth of wisdom, love, faith and personal experience, they always had much to teach other people. But they never called attention to themselves for this; instead, they were always ready to learn from other couples, especially those with more experience than they, in how to live their marriage well. As good as they were at marriage, they never settled for good enough; extraordinary as they were in their love for each other and their family, they always knew they could, and so they strove, to do better.

It is no secret that very much work needs to be done to rebuild a marriage culture in our society today. It is my hope that this book you hold in your hands right now will be a help for you to do so in your own lives. Strengthening marriages one at a time, giving couples the tools they need to persevere in good times and in bad, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, we can reclaim the beauty and extraordinary grace for everyone that is Gods plan for a joy-filled marriage. And I pray that every priest and deacon will read this book, too, and give it as a gift to the couples whose marriages they witness in the name of the Church. Then we will understand that the command not to tear asunder what God has joined, far from a repressive restriction on freedom, is indeed quite the opposite: the sacrament of Gods unconditional love for us in His Son Jesus Christ, who is the truth who sets us free.

Thank you, Vicki!

Most Reverend Salvatore J. Cordileone

Archbishop of San Francisco

This book would not have been written without the love and support of my six children, five sons-in-law, and 24 grandchildren, the wise counsel of my spiritual advisor, Fr. David Exner, the guidance of my friend and business partner, Reni Cordell, and the friendship and editing prowess of Cori Brown.

Deborah Hurwitz of Productivity for Perfectionists has been my inspiration and coach during the writing of the book, and Kate Dorsey is the coach who cheered me on over the final hurdle.