Renewal of Marriage Promises

Today we had a form of renewal of Marriage Promises after the Homily at the 10.00 am Mass.

I began the Mass by reminding the congregation that we were going to do this, and since no one made for the door...



We had some resources sent through the Diocese but the forms of renewal were either too sickly sweet or "boring". I found an excellent page on the WWW from a Spanish priest. It included a fairly good homily, the Renewal of Baptismal Promises (instead of the Creed) and a simple form of Marriage Renewal taken from the Marriage Rite. I had quite a few coming deliberately to the 10.00 Mass for this (I announced it last week). It was wonderful to see so many standing together, hands joined, smiling faces, saying "I do". A great witness in these days when so many - Catholics included - are choosing to live without the Sacraments.



The picture above is not from my parish. The couple are Greek Orthodox/Catholic who were married during a TLIG Pilgrimage on the Island of Patmos. The wedding was Greek Orthodox. It was a wonderful celebration with a packed church of Christians of different denominations. On one wall there was a magnificent fresco/icon of the Marriage Feast at Cana.