Engaged Couple Blessing

 

The months leading up to a wedding can be very stressful and busy as an engaged couple, along with their family and friends, work their way through their long To Do list of dresses, flowers, food, shoes, jewelry, wedding cars and so on, all to be ready for the wedding day!  But as important as these practical aspects are, it’s all over in one day. Far more important in these months leading up to a couple’s wedding is their interior preparation for the lifetime of marriage. The wedding is just one day. The marriage is for a lifetime.

 

The couple’s engagement time leading up to the wedding is a time when couples should prepare themselves for their lifelong commitment to each other. They need to prepare themselves spiritually, emotionally and practically for the many years ahead.

 

Our Diocese runs comprehensive marriage preparation programme for engaged couples. The Catholic Church also offers couples a beautiful Blessing for Engaged Couples which serves as a moment of grace, asking God’s special blessing on the couple to guide and strengthen them during this crucial phase as they prepare for their marriage.

 

Our Diocese holds an annual Day of Prayer for Engaged Couples each February, on the Sunday before Valentine’s Day. On that Sunday all parishes in the Diocese especially pray for engaged couples during the Sunday mass. In addition, the engaged couples of each parish are invited to attend one particular mass in the parish and to receive the Blessing for Engaged Couples together.

 

In this way they ask God’s blessing that the happiness promised by their engagement will be brought to fulfilment in a fruitful marriage.

 

“As they prepare themselves for the sacrament of marriage and pray for your grace, grant that, strengthened by your blessing,  they may grow in their respect for one another and cherish each other with a sincere love.”

– excerpt from the Blessing