Sharing 2014: Holy Family Feast Day at Holy Family Church

I went back to Shenzhen on Dec 27.   After the anticipated Sunday Mass, I had a preparation meeting for New Year celebration for the youth.  

There were 9.00 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. Masses on Dec 28.  The later was the parish celebration of the Feast of the Holy Family.  We invited other the priests, sisters and parishioners from other Churches to attend the Mass and dinner at the nearby restaurant.      

With the help of my Putonghua tutor, I edited the renewal of marriage vow ceremony booklet of St. Theresa’s Church Hong Kong for our wedding anniversary blessing ceremony and added two persons three legs activity.  It was for the couples who celebrate their 5^th, 10^th, 15^th,…wedding anniversary.  There were seven couples who are celebrating their wedding anniversary according to abovementioned criteria but only six couples could participate the ceremony.  Fr. Lu announced the blessing ceremony after the homily.  The  couples walked with three legs from the main door to the altar with the music of “Here Comes the Bride.” When they arrived at the front of the altar, Fr. Lu explained the meaning of two persons three legs activity and read the renewal of Marriage vows for both the husband and wife because he heard that it is not convenience for them (or one couple, I am not sure) to say it in public.   A parishioner said that the marriage vow is once for a lifetime so we can’t pronounce it again.  I explained that it’s not my own plan but it’s done in other Churches.  Then, Fr. Lu invited all the priests to lay their hands on the six couples while he said the blessings.  I prepared a card “Virgin of the Covenant (Icon of the Married Couple), Pastoral Letter of Cardinal John Tong on Proclaiming and Living the "Gospel of the Family" and booklet "Starting a Happy Marriage" from Hong Kong Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Marriage and Family as their gift. 

The six couples were responsible to brought forward the offerings after the collection.  There were performances from our choir and our guitarists after the Mass.

Fr. Lu mentioned that the blessing ceremony was prepared by our sister. One of the parishioners asked whether I prepared the two persons three legs activity and said that it’s a very good idea because the two person become one at marriage ceremony. 

Here is the link of the picture: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbuWrFm4ZM2Nq

Hong Kong, 31 December 2014

         

Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M.

Let’s do simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible