Bishop John Noonan will celebrate Mass for Marriage at St. James Cathedral in Orlando, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, at 10 a.m. During the annual Mass there will be a renewal of vows. Below is a story of one couple’s journey to faithfully live their vocation.

MELBOURNE  |  Gissela and Jorge Cardona are convinced God meant for them to meet. And though the road has not always been paved with roses, they believe if they focus on Christ they will strive in getting one another to heaven.

The two met through Gissela’s best friend who happened to be Jorge’s ex-sister-in-law. Gissela traveled often to Miami to buy goods and sell them back home in Honduras. When Jorge’s nephew asked to send him a new electronic gadget, Gissela’s name came up as the perfect person to take it to him.

Jorge traveled to Miami and the two met. There was an instant connection. They talked for hours, sharing about their divorces, mistakes made, and hope for the future. The relationship was formal. Laughing she reminisced how she called him, “Señor Don Jorge” or Mr. Jorge, sir.

Gissela was struck by his candor. “We met in the middle of the recession of 2007,” she recalled. “Working in construction, he was in a very bad economic situation. I remember meeting him in his work van.”

A phrase he shared clung to her heart. “What you see is what I have,” he told her. “I liked that because it showed me that he was not a boastful man. He was not one to take on airs or be presumptuous. What you saw is what you got.”

Playfully she turned to him and asked what he liked about her. He did not hesitate.

“She was someone I could talk to about anything,” he said. “She was grounded in reality with no lofty illusions about daily life or the troubles we both had in our past marriages. We were open about what we wanted and expected.”

He told her he wanted to get married and have a family. The two wrote down their desires on a piece of paper, asking God to bless and grant them.

“God blessed us a lot. We were open about seeking a partner with whom we would be happy,” said Jorge. It was Nov. 24, 2007.

A month later he flew to Honduras to spend Christmas Eve with her so they could meet each other’s parents. She thought to herself, “Well then, this is it!” They married civilly a year later, and they moved to Melbourne.

Although both were baptized Catholic, Jorge did not practice the faith. Over their year of dating, he began attending a Baptist church. To accompany him on his journey, Gissela focused on the fact he was getting to know Christ. But a year later she shared her longing to go back to the celebration of Mass.

“I feel incomplete. I need the Eucharist. I promise I’ll explain each part of the Mass to you,” she told him.

They began going to Our Lady of Lourdes in Melbourne. But she still did not receive Holy Communion because her first marriage was not annulled. He did not understand. They continued for a while to be “Sunday Christians”, as she described it.

Years passed and their marriage began to deteriorate. On the verge of divorce, someone suggested Renovación Conyugal. They decided to give it a chance.

“We wanted to save our marriage,” she said.

The program helped Jorge learn more about the Eucharist and why his wife needed to receive it. He also learned each of them had a mission to get the other to heaven. His desire to take a greater part in the Mass grew. Jorge, Gissela and their children went through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, received their missing Sacraments and the couple was married in the Church Jan. 11, 2020.

“Renovación Conyugal has marvelous tools,” Gissela said. “We learned without God, nothing is possible. And our marriage must be based on the perfect triangle, the trinity of God, husband and wife.” Jorge added, “With God at the center of our family.”

“Our marriage and family life took another path because we committed to God and each other to work on our marriage,” Gissela said. They learned to validate each other’s emotions and find common ground.

“We think marriage is going to be a forever honeymoon,” Gissela said. “The initial infatuation passes and in that daily reality there is acceptance. Because we are human and come to relationships with different customs and baggage, we need to balance that with acceptance — seeing each other through God’s eyes.”

Jorge added, “I think we all get married so our spouse can make us happy. But that’s not how it is. For me to be happy, I must make my spouse happy. In that way it becomes reciprocal,” he explained. “That is a daily effort, understanding my spouse is first, then me. Selfishness stunts our relationships.”

The two agree that the greatest gamechanger is loving the other first, with a desire to get to heaven. Gissela worked on forgiveness. She recalled the words of their spiritual director, Father Juan Osorno, parochial vicar of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Clermont. He said, “Salvation is not a personal business. If it is, what is the meaning of the mystical body of Christ? Everyone has a mission, but we all help in the work of salvation. We are not islands. We are more connected than we can imagine. Everything we do affects the whole universe. And even more in marriage where you are one.” He added, “This always brings hope because everything in God’s hands will be transformed.”

It impacted her. “How am I going to refuse salvation to this man whom God has given me, if it is within my ability to help him get there? And vice versa. If it’s in my hands, I will help him,” she said.

Both wrote promises to each other. He promised “to love her more each day and take care of her as he had never done before; to be faithful until death and to make her feel the most loved and protected woman to ever live.”

She promised to make him her priority, to never stop loving him, and to be wherever he is. “I try not to be perfect, but to live according to God’s standards. I do this through prayer. The moment I begin to pray my life, my thoughts and way of acting change. The commitment I’ve made to Jorge is to pray for him every day. To ask God that the Holy Spirit accompany him in all discernment and understanding, so he can receive salvation. Then I leave it all in God’s hands.”

Jorge also committed praying for Gissela daily. “When we disagree, I don’t seek to impose my will, or hers, but to talk and find a happy medium.”

They watch how they behave as a couple, understanding they are witnesses to what marriage can be to their children and others. When they must talk about difficult things, they begin in prayer, placing God at the center of the conversation.

“When we choose to have God in the forefront, He is the inexhaustible source of love,” Gissela explained. “He is the living water, where we will no longer thirst. By filling ourselves with His love, we give love to ourselves. Love encompasses everything – acceptance, tolerance, understanding, validation, everything because love can do all things. But we cannot give what we don’t have. God is love, so we go to the source.”

If you are struggling in your marriage, there is hope. For more information on Renovación Conyugal, click here.
For information on Retrouvaille, click here. 

By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, February 6, 2025