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 5th,
10th, 15th,…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
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