Celebrating our Catholic Marriages and Families
Father's Day is an important time to celebrate and promote the role of fatherhood within the Christian family. Fathers, by their word and example, pass on the faith and reflect the image of God the Father within their homes. Christian marriages reflect the relationship between Christ and the Church and have the Holy Family as their primary model.
As devoted Catholics, members of the Knights of Columbus nourish, support and strengthen Catholic family life through parish-based programs and charitable works. Today, our parish's Knights of Columbus council invites each couple present to affirm their wedding vows. We hope that by doing so you and your spouse will again experience the grace received on your wedding day, when you gave witness to the union of Christ and the Church. We pray that your marriage continues to be strengthened through the example of the Holy Family and the love that comes from Christ.
RENEWAL OF WEDDING VOWS
During or immediately following the liturgy all couples will be invited to affirm their wedding vows in a simple and solemn ceremony. The celebrant will invite couples to stand together in their pews or to gather at an appropriate place in front of the sanctuary.
V Dear brothers and sisters, on your wedding day you joined your lives in an unbreakable
bond through the Sacrament of Matrimony. I invite you now to join your right hands and
renew the promises you made to one another.
And so I remind you, husbands, that by the Lord's goodness you took this woman to be
your wife. Do you affirm your promise to be true to her in good times and in bad?
R I do.
V In sickness and in health?
R I do.
V Do you promise to love her and honor her all the days of your life?
R I do.
V And so I remind you, wives, that by the Lord's goodness you took this man to be your
husband. Do you affirm your promise to be true to him in good times and in bad?
R I do.
V In sickness and in health?
R I do.
V Do you promise to love him and honor him all the days of your life?
R I do.
V Lord God and Creator, we bless and praise your name. In the beginning you made man and
woman, so that they might enter a communion of life and love. You likewise blessed the union
of these married couples, so that they might reflect the union of Christ with his Church. Look
with kindness on them today. Amid the joys and struggles of their life you have preserved the
union between them. Renew their marriage covenant. Increase your love in them and strengthen
their bond of peace, so that surrounded by their children they may always rejoice in the gift of
your blessing. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
R Amen.
BLESSING OF MARRIED COUPLES
V Husbands and wives, please bow your heads for the blessing.
May God the eternal Father keep you of one heart in love for one another that the peace of Christ
may dwell in you and abide always in your home.
R Amen.
V May you be blessed in your children, have solace in your friends and enjoy true peace with
everyone.
R Amen.
V May you be witnesses in the world to God's charity, so that the afflicted and needy who have
known your kindness may one day receive you thankfully into the eternal dwelling of God.
R Amen.
V And may almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
R Amen.
Vows of renewal and blessed adapted from the Roman Missal, Third Edition. Prayers modified from the Prayer of Blessing of a Married Couple, Book of Blessings (1989).
