Tuesday, July 26, 2005 is a day we will always remember; we celebrated Mass at the Santa Rosa Parish to commemorate the Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne. The Mass was well attended by many of the married faithful. It was preceded by an hour of Eucharistic adoration.

The Mass followed with singing by the Saturday evening choir. Louis and Glenda Blake did the readings. Msgr Christian Pereira, in his usual erudite manner, gave a most interesting homily on the wedding feast of Cana where Jesus performed his first public miracle at the bidding of his mother Mary.

It was interesting to note how Msgr Pereira wOVE in beautifully the story of the water being turned into wine, where the best wine was served throughout the wedding, just as the fourth stage of marriage is undoubtedly the “best wine” as expounded by the Retrouvaille Ministry.

The four stages are (i) Romance (ii) Disillusionment (iii) Misery and (iv) Re-awakening. Msgr Pereira lamented that some couples never reached that last and best stage.

For, as the wine that Christ made at the wedding was described as the best wine, so too the fourth stage of marriage, “Re-awakening” is the best stage. Many of the married faithful had never seen it in that light.

Then came the rather touching moment when married couples were asked to stand and renew their marriage vows. Those who were present without their spouses (for whatever reasons) were also asked to stand and Msgr Pereira blessed them and their marriages.

The prayer of the faithful was led the by the “Couples for Christ Ministry” and Communion was served under both kinds by couples. At the meditation, Mr & Mrs Gonzales sang a love song - You Will Always be Beautiful in My Life .

After the meditation two couples – Harold and Patricia Dookieram and Glen and Pascala Martin – were chosen to stick the wedding cake and offer a toast to married couples respectively.

Glen and Pascala Martin celebrated their 25 th wedding anniversary on August 3 having been married in Santa Rosa Church in 1980. They were presented to the congregation by the most recently married couple in the parish, Carol & Jerron Samuel, who were married June 25, 2005.

We were then given the final blessing and Mass ended with beautiful love songs. Of course I could not resist and found myself singing with the choir. We then made our way to the parish hall for the sticking of the cake, the toast and a little dancing. Oh, what a beautiful night!

On Tuesday, July 26, approximately 30 couples gathered at the church of Sts Phillip and James, Chaguanas, to celebrate the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the patron saints of married couples.

Holy Mass was celebrated at 6.30 p.m. by Fr Kenneth Assing, our parish priest. This was the second opportunity of the day for married couples to attend Holy Mass.

The St Augustine choir from Cunupia, which is one of the communities in our parish, led us in joyful songs of praise during the liturgy. When it was time for the homily, Fr Assing did something, which was very different.

He said to us, “What can I say to you? As a matter of fact you should be talking to me.” He then asked couples from different marital year groups to share briefly on their experiences.

The common sentiments expressed in their sharings were that every day was not a bed of roses; there were periods that presented extreme challenges of troubled waters to cross.

However by relying on God, sometimes striving against the odds to keep God in the marriage, difficulties and situations were resolved. Sometimes, not as quickly as we would have liked, but we overcame them nonetheless. To keep God at the centre of our marriages was our common goal.

On that night the oldest couple present was looking forward to celebrating their 45 th wedding anniversary on August 7.

Marriage is a vocation. It is a call for us to live out our commitment to unconditional and sacrificial love and intimacy with each other, so that each of us can grow and become whole and holy.

Father Assing then invited us to stand, face each other, hold hands, look each other in the eyes and recite solemnly a prayer and a pledge of our love for each other.

At the end of Mass, Father asked one of the couples to render a song, which was most appropriate to the evening's celebration. Following this we all joined in singing the song When I Fall in Love.

We were treated to a light dinner sponsored by our dear Fr Assing. Thank you, Father for celebrating Holy Mass with us and making our evening a most memorable one.

Let us pray: Lord, help us to remember that we can be a powerful sign – a light in the darkness. Help us to always to be ready to share our love with others, for as we have heard – “love is not put in our hearts to stay; love is not love until it is given away . ”