World Marriage Day

While each parish or congregation may customize the fine points, many have developed a basic event that includes some of the following components:

Events:

1. A special service on WMD that has been promoted to all married couples through pulpit announcements and bulletin ads. Advertise to get all couples and families to attend this special event. Promote attendance by recognizing couples celebrating milestones in their marriages.

2. Reception-style party or picnic following the Mass/service, inviting all to attend.

3. Have married couples of the parish bring in a wedding picture the week preceding WMD and display them the weekend of WMD in celebration of Marriage.

Liturgy:

1. Homily and readings related to the sacrament of marriage.

2. General intercessions related to marriage and families.

3. Renewal of vows as part of the homily, or as a special ceremony after Mass/service.

4. A special blessing of married couples.

5. A unity candle lit and displayed during the mass.

6. Couple married longest in attendance be the presenting couple of the gifts.

7. A special couples choir to sing songs pertaining to love, marriage and family

Setting/Decorations:

1. Special floral arrangements for the church that might portray a wedding-like atmosphere.

2. Special decorations or displays in the main entrance or lobby of church.

3. Reserved seating for couples celebrating 25, 30, 40, 50, and 60 years of marriage. A procession of couples as part of the gathering rite.

(The celebrant invites the congregation to pray in silence as the couples renew before God their sacred matrimonial commitment to each other.)

Celebrant:

"Dear Friends, on your wedding day, you stood before the church's minister and the community and solemnly vowed your love. On this World Marriage Day, you stand before the community of faith as a reminder of the great beauty of the Sacrament/Covenant of Matrimony."

"You stand before your children who reflect the life and love you have given to them through your marriage."

"You stand before those who are living the single vocation in the Church. Your marriage vows complement their lives of commitment and service to the Lord's call."

"You stand before widows and widowers who recall the love and commitment given to their spouse."

"You stand before us as witnesses to the married love which Christ abundantly blessed on your wedding day. I invite you now to renew the promises you made in mutual and lasting fidelity."

Couples (repeat after the celebrant):

"I have taken you and take you again________, to be my spouse. I promise to be true to you in the good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

Celebrant:

"You have renewed your marriage vows before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your commitment and fill you with his blessings. Amen"

Final Blessing:

"Bow your heads and pray for God's blessing."

"May God the almighty Father, give you joy. Amen"

"May the only Son of God have mercy on you and help you in good times and in bad. Amen"

"May the Holy Spirit always fill your hearts with love. Amen"

"And may almighty God bless you all, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen"

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-8
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Gospel: Luke 6:17-26

Sample homily by Fr. Rudy Oborny

The theme of this Sunday’s readings is a “Call to Holiness”.

Jeremiah, speaking for God, opens today’s reading with a dire warning: “Cursed be the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” He goes on to say that when man just trusts in humanity and not in God, he becomes like a barren bush in the desert.

What is Jeremiah saying here? Is he saying that we should not trust our spouse, our family, our neighbors or our friends? No, not really. It is important and necessary to have trustworthy people around us – a friend in need is a friend indeed. However, he does lay it on the line and say if we have to choose between God and Man, then we must not turn away from the Lord. God has to come first. We, ourselves, are ultimately directly accountable for our response to God and answering his call. We can receive help, but we make the response.

As powerful as our love is, or that of our spouse, or of our parents or our friends, it still cannot save us from all illness, calamities or from death. This simply indicates that a person who tries to live life, but without God, is like that barren shrub growing small and scraggly and not bearing any fruit. Humanly, there is very little that we can do without the help of God.

The man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord is the one who experiences abundant life. It is he who is capable of forgiving because he is forgiven, of loving because God first loved him, of being kind, compassionate, understanding, long suffering, patient, good and holy because he receives it from his Creator, who is the source of all good and who knows what is best for him.

Jeremiah goes on to say, that man in relationship with God, fears not the heat when it comes, shows no distress and still bears fruit. Heat here can represent any number of things: illness, loss of employment, loss of a spouse or family member, or personal disasters of many kinds. The grace of God is the water of life. His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, the Eucharist, is the nourishment that sustains us on our journey here on earth toward our goal of being with God, of life being worth living. A truly wonderful gift that we can give, is to help someone know how to find the Lord when the heat is on.

Today, we celebrate World Marriage Day. It is a day when we honor the sacrifices and rewards that are a vital part in a good marriage. Today’s readings remind us of a couple’s need for God in their relationship. It is a call to holiness for each of them. What would it profit a couple if they gave each other the most comfortable and luxurious of homes, the most fashionable and elegant of clothes, the most entertaining and exciting of vacations, and the best creature comforts that money could buy, but yet not bring each other to a deeper relationship with God and suffer the loss of heaven? Spending eternity in hell where there is no love, forgiveness, compassion or good of any kind, but pure bitterness, resentment, hatred and despair would be the greatest of disasters that could befall someone, let alone a couple who were called to love each other and help bring each other to God. Yet that is what many couples offer each other as their best gift. The gifts of faith and holiness are often forgotten or relegated to the least important items in their relationship.

In the Sacrament of Matrimony the couple is called to be an encounter with Christ to the other. God’s love is to be made real between them, and then to flow to their children and then out to the community. Even though they confer the sacrament upon each other on the day of their marriage, they need to continue to renew that commitment each and every day of their lives.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul speaks about the importance of Christ rising from the dead, and that we too are destined to rise from the dead. “For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain, you are still in your sins…..we are the most pitiable people of all.”

Couples should challenge each other, and all of us should challenge one other, to avoid the inclination of falling into a mediocre relationship with God. Do you as a couple take seriously your call from God to help your spouse hunger and thirst to know him and want to be with him? Are you yourself excited about rising from the dead and being with God? If God blessed you with children, are you helping them to experience something better than ho-hum nominal Christianity? A good question that we should ask ourselves from time to time is: how much time is spent on pursuing material things in a world that some day will pass away, in comparison to seeking the spiritual gifts that will never pass away?

One of the greatest ways a couple can help their spouse grow closer to God is to pray with them. Most couples do some praying, but most often alone. Some will pray together only in formal prayer such as the Our Father or Hail Mary. It is only a small percentage that musters up the courage to pray spontaneously – in their own words. Yet this is one of the deepest forms of prayer because it allows your partner to look into your soul, how you see God and how you talk and relate with him. Maybe, starting with this World Marriage Day, ask God for the courage for you to offer your spouse a deeper prayer life, a deeper experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the sharing of spontaneous prayer, so the two of you can praise the Father even more. If you do it with consistency, you will be amazed at how deeply God will bless your love. After you master it, teach it to your children.

You are called to holiness. You were not called to be a scrub shrub in the desert, but a tree planted beside the stream, the life giving waters of God’s grace. “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.”

Download a printable version of this homily

LITURGICAL MUSIC SUGGESTIONS:

Entrance: Blest Be the Lord (Dan Schultte: New Dawn Music)

Preparation of the Gifts: Hosea (Gregory Norbert: Benedictine Foundation)

Communion: On Eagle’s Wings (Michael Joncas: New Dawn Music)

Recessional: Change Our Hearts (Rory Cooney: NALR)

All song suggestions are available in Glory & Praise, Second Edition.

Option 1 (Husband & Wife to deliver)
Let us join in prayer for our special anniversary couples and for all married couples, knowing that God hears us whenever we pray.

Response:  Lord, make us one.

Husband: That all husbands may have the wisdom and courage to help their wives grow and develop their talents, to become all God wants them to be. We pray to the Lord.

Wife: That all wives among us have the knowledge and the will to encourage their husbands to grow and fulfill all the rich potential that lies within them. We pray to the Lord.

Husband: That we may receive the gifts of patience, imagination and understanding in our relationship with our children in these changing times. We pray to the Lord.

Wife: That all couples may be delivered from the dangers of boredom and routine which can erode the deepest love relationship. We pray to the Lord.

Husband: For the courage to overcome fear and reveal ourselves more openly and honestly through more intimate communication. We pray to the Lord.

Wife: That all our relatives, friends and neighbors may experience the joy of family love. We pray to the Lord.

Husband: That all the families on earth may have the resources they need to lead happy, healthy and prayer-filled lives. We pray to the Lord.

Eternal Father, you love us so much that you gave us your only Son. Grant that all who are in the union of marriage may reflect the beauty of your love and share it with others. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Option II
From the Book of Blessing, The Roman Ritual New York:
Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1989 nos. 107-114

Celebrant: In the tender plan of His providence, God our almighty Father has given married love, its faithfulness (and its fruitfulness), a special significance in the history of salvation. Let us therefore call upon Him saying:  Lord hear our prayer.

Husband: For our Holy Father, our bishops and all priest and religious, that they may be faithful in their call to fidelity and service, let us pray to the Lord.

Wife: For all married couples, that God give them comfort and strength in each other and joy in their children, let us pray to the Lord.

Husband: For all those preparing for marriage, that God guide them to a deep appreciation of this Sacrament, let us pray to the Lord.

Wife: For widows and widowers, that God may comfort them with compassion, let us pray to the Lord.

Husband: For those who suffer the pain of a troubled marriage, separation or divorce, that God guide them into a future filled with hope, let us pray to the Lord.

Wife: For a greater respect for the dignity of marriage and family in our nation and society, let us pray to the Lord.

Husband: For all our deceased family members and those of our parish who have died in faith, let us pray to the Lord.

 

Almighty and eternal God, you have so exalted the unbreakable bond of marriage that it has become the sacramental sign of your Son's union with the Church as His spouse.  Look with favor on these married couples, whom you have united in marriage, as they ask for your help and the protection of the Virgin Mary.  They pray that in good times and in bad they will grow in love for each other; that they will resolve to be of one heart in the bond of peace.

Lord, in the struggles let them rejoice that you are near to help them; in their needs let them know that you are there to rescue them; in their joys let them see that you are the source and completion of every happiness.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.

AMEN