God strengthens love and witness among families, Bishop Iffert says at Wedding

Maura Baker

Staff Writer

Nearly 100 married couples celebrated their anniversaries with Vespers, Sept. 7, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington. This special annual service commemorates those celebrating milestone anniversaries — 1 year, 25 years, 50 years and 60 years or more — with prayer, renewal of vows and a blessing from Bishop John Iffert.

“None of us can claim to have done the good things that God has worked in our lives on our own,” Bishop John Iffert began in his homily addressing the couples present. “Whatever God works in us, whatever good comes out of life, whatever good fruit is born out of life and the things we do, we remember that without God, we could do none of it.” He said, “Only with God’s grace are we capable of reflecting the love that God has poured out on us.”

“Look what God has done today,” Bishop Iffert remarked, “to be witness to the goodness of God in so many lives, so many families, so many marriages and so many relationships … God has done great things for me. That is the witness we are gathered here to share with one another and the world outside today.”

“God forms us together in families and in the family of the Church,” he said, “so that we might be for one another a school of charity, a place where we learn how to love God and others — where we learn how to put aside our self-centeredness and our focus on only ourselves.” Bishop Iffert continued, “The nihilism that is so present in our culture today, that is such a temptation for us. To set aside that self-centered stance and to learn to serve one another, to serve God in one another — in your families and in your married lives — this is a grace God strengthens in you.”

“May God continue to grace you,” Bishop Iffert told the couples gathered, “and may the end of your life find you ready to greet him after having known the love of your children and your children’s children.”