Mahatma Gandhi once advised his followers to “be the change you want to see”. “Be the difference you want to make” is a variation I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Snehalaya, the Family Service Centre of the Archdiocese decided just that when they chose to make WMD 2024 a ‘Day with a Difference’. It also worked hard to move away from past formulas and approach the celebrations with newness and freshness.
What a difference a day made is a romantic love song with lyrics by Jammie Cullum in 1934 and immortalized by Dinah Washington in 1959. “What a difference a day made, (twenty) four little hours brought the sun and the flowers where there used to be rain” was the ideal backdrop giving a Valentine’s day touch to this Archdiocesan Event held at the A. da Silva High School (Emerald Hall) at Dadar on Sunday, February 18, 2024.
The gathering of the approx. 100+ married couples was blessed by the presence of His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias. The Eucharist was preceded by an action song that did enough to energize those present so that we could burst into praise singing the South African Zulu song “Bambalela, Bambalela, Hold on to Jesus”. The Liturgy of the Eucharist was not a ‘repetition’ of the Marriage Liturgy celebrated by couples on their Wedding Day. The texts reflected rather, a revisiting and deepening of the promises they made on their wedding day, using the text of the New Marriage Rite prescribed for wedding anniversaries. The homily aptly brought out the fact that as married couples we are called to imitate the response of Jesus to the temptations that he experienced in the Desert. It would play out in our decision to live for the other, and to grow in holiness through our love for each other. That Valentine’s Day this year coincided with Ash Wednesday is not of minor insignificance in this context.
Fr Cajetan Menezes, former director of Snehalaya and Fr Cleophas its present director were concelebrants at Mass along with a few other priests. A small youth choir under the leadership of Schneider from Our Lady of Mercy Church, Pokhran, provided the energetic singing for the Liturgy and the evening.
Article taken from the Facebook post of the Examiner