Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

NORWALK—”As we gather this morning with great joy, to join you in the celebration of your anniversaries of the Sacred Sacrament of Matrimony, the entire diocese offers you its warmest congratulations,” Bishop Frank J. Caggiano addressed the couples gathered at this weekend’s Wedding Jubilee Mass celebrated at St. Matthew Parish in Norwalk.

The Mass honored married couples celebrating 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50+ year wedding anniversaries, and was celebrated in two liturgies in order to accommodate the large number of couples being recognized.

In his homily, Bishop Caggiano spoke about the Wedding Feast at Cana, which was fittingly the Gospel reading for the Mass. “Jesus took the celebration of a marriage to teach something very profound,” the bishop said.

“Whether you realize it or not,” the bishop addressed the couples present, “for all the years you have been together as husband and wife, in good times and in bad, you have been teaching the world what God means when He says I love you.”

The bishop explained that marital love endures, changes season, becomes deeper and more mature over the years. “The recognition is that love is more than an emotion, a choice, and a decision to be one in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, until death, whenever that comes, does us part.”

This love, said the bishop, “glimpses for us the wild and reckless love God has for you and me and for his bride, who is the Church.”

The bishop explained that God wishes to share His whole life with us, in Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit; and that love compels us to reflect His life in the world. “In your married life, you are teaching the rest of us what God wants for all of us,” the bishop said.

The bishop acknowledged that love isn’t always easy. “You have seen your share of sacrifices, challenges, disappointments, fears, and sufferings,” he said. “Yet, you are still here; side by side, hand in hand, and heart to heart. Because while God does not promise that our lives will always be easy, he always promises that He will be with us.”

The bishop said that marriage is a vocation meant to last a lifetime.

“God offers a covenant to all His people. He never turns His back and never stops loving us,” said the bishop.

“I cannot imagine how your hearts must break open with love and joy to see the flesh that the two of you share take life before you,” the bishop commended those who have children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The bishop also spoke to those who don’t have their own natural children, saying, “in the love that you have shared with one another you have opened your homes and hearts to friends and neighbors who are now sisters and brothers, lifelong companions.”

Married love is about giving life, explained the bishop, as is God’s love.

“You are a blessing to the Church, said the bishop, “because you are a living sign of who God is and the beauty, depth, breadth and richness of God’s love in the world.”

The bishop then invited all those celebrating their anniversaries to stand and renew their vows before God and His Church.

At the closing of the Mass, the bishop commented that all together, over 3,000 years of marriage were being celebrated in the church today between the two Masses.

Couples celebrating their milestone anniversaries were able to take photos with the bishop in-between the two Masses.

Photos by Amy Mortensen