Marriage Anniversaries in our Parish
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On Sunday, September 24, 2006 the two married couples of St. Stephen Parish, Mr. Yurij and Mrs. Marta Shevchuk and Mr. Peter and Mrs. Eugenia Yurkowski attended the wedding anniversaries celebration at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia. During the Divine Liturgy they renewed their marriage vows in the presence of Bishop John Bura – auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia.
Congratulations! A good and lasting marriage is truly a gift from God...not that we don't recognize that we all have to work at it from time to time.
During recent times, we have witnessed some of the greatest events of world history: conflicts which have altered the composition and political shape of the global map; the first step of man on the moon; pioneering medical advances which have all but eradicated some of the deadliest diseases known to mankind; the development of machinery and equipment that even as recently as 30 years ago would have seemed inconceivable - calculators, photocopiers, video machines. Today, the advent of sophisticated micro-technology has not only placed immense power literally within the palm of the human hand, but has also shrunk the entire globe to the size of a box of moving pictures which can sit in the corner of a small room. In comparison, a couple’s long relationship might seem quaint and even outdated.
However quaint or outdated it may appear, that relationship between a husband and a wife can generally do something that none of mankind’s inventions can do: it can create new life out of the one ingredient which cannot be invented or manufactured – love.
Marriage is not about conventions or systems; it is not an institution, as many people claim; it is about people - two people initially - publicly sharing a common vision for the future, a vision which needs the constant impetus of creativity to handle the changes of everyday life. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health and amongst all those universal changes, one thing remains consistent, and this is what was celebrated in the service of thanksgiving at the cathedral in Philadelphia: the love between one man and one woman.
So Yurij and Marta Shevchuk and Peter and Eugenia Yurkowski may God bless your marriages. May love light your way and fill your lives together with joy and peace. Found your marriage on the rock of Jesus. I will finish with the words of Tobias, “May God take pity on you and bring you to old age together.”