Married Catholic couples renewed their vows July 26 at churches across the archdiocese to celebrate the feast of Ss Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Married couples renew their commitment to each other.

Msgr Joseph blesses couples after the renewal of marital vows.

Sherma and Stephen Wong Kang cut the wedding cake.

While it has been celebrated in some parishes over the years, the Archdiocesan Family Life Commission has been actively promoting the feast day in the past two years by organising central celebrations in each vicariate.

Vicar for Family Life, Fr Robert Llanos concelebrated the feast with Msgr Esau Joseph at Our Lady of Fatima church, Curepe. Married couples – from one year to those spanning decades – attended, some celebrating the occasion with their children.

The liturgy included a time of reflection by the couples, on the times when they failed to love their spouse and children.

Fr Llanos led the renewal of vows; Msgr Joseph blessed couples with holy water after the renewal.

After the final blessing, Sherma and Stephen Wong Kang, who have been married 19 years, had the honour of representing all the couples present as they were chosen by a numbering system to cut the “wedding cake”.

The married couple
- a sign of God's love for his Church

By Louis Blake

They came in two by two, it was the one day of the year I was able to link a familiar face with that of another significant companion.  It was the one day of the year that the powerful witness of married couples was clearly visible at church.

It was a celebration of married life and renewal of marriage vows on the feast of the Patron Saints of Married Couples, Saints Joachim and Anne on the evening of July 26, at the Santa Rosa RC Church, Arima.

As married couples sat together in the church pews, I witnessed the various stages of what commitment to married life really meant.  There were the newly married young couples, the couple pregnant with their first child, the couples with babies and young children and older mature couples.

There were those present with their spouses disabled through illness, and those without their spouses but obviously committed to the sanctity of married life.

Yes, it was obvious, the image of married life painted by celebrant, Msgr Christian Pereira, was alive and visible in the church.

Msgr Pereira said the journeys around the world by Harold and Kwailan La Borde in their boats were similar to the journey of a married couple. He said as two people (the married couple) embark on their journey of life, they encounter rough waters, calm waters, many sunrises and sunsets.

They spend time in darkness and they spend time in the light. They do not behave as though the whole journey is one daylight experience or calm waters. No marriage this side of heaven, he said, is one continuous sunrise.

He said the perseverance, stamina, forgiveness and love that couples need to exercise in their marriage through the good times and bad is a witness to the glory of God.  Married people are to remain in God’s love and to help each other remain focussed in God’s love. They are then empowered to love each other as God loved us.

Msgr Pereira said when a married couple is committed to their vocation and open to God, they are able to create a home, a real cradle, a nurturing environment where children are given the examples to become great men and women in the future.

He urged couples to find in Saints Joachim and Anne the help to be faithful to each other so that their lives may be a blessing for their children and the community to which they belong.

The celebration at the Santa Rosa Church was for the parishes of the Eastern Vicariate. This was reflected by the attendance and the prayers of the faithful, which were led by couples from various parishes within the Vicariate.

Four couples were presented with certificates of appreciation for conducting a marriage preparation programme in the parish for the past two decades. They were Pre- Marriage Coordinators Tony and Jocelyn Chung, Charles and Annette Brown, Louis and Glenda Blake and Herman and Joelle Boodoo.

The Mass was followed by a reception in the Eastern Parish Hall. A young couple won the opportunity to stick the wedding cake prepared by members of the Arima Family Life Unit.

A toast was moved to honour married couples followed by cake sharing, light refreshment, socialising and music that encouraged some couples to take to the dance floor.

A treat for married couples of St Charles