Father Jose Felix Ortega, during the annual Spanish Mass in honor of World Marriage Day at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, told the attentive couples that “marriage is the fountain of hope – it is hope for the family, but also hope for the world.” 

The Mass was celebrated Sunday, February 9, coinciding with this year’s World Marriage Day as declared by the Church. Father Ortega, pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Bronx, served as principal celebrant and homilist of the afternoon liturgy, which drew more than  300 couples, many with their children. The Mass is organized by the New York archdiocesan Movimiento Matrimonial Católico (MMC).                     

“On this World Marriage Day, [we celebrate that] marriage is the fountain of hope – it is the fountain of hope for itself, for the marriage, for the family. We think of the bride and groom – all the hope they have in that future life that they’re about to initiate…We think of the recently married couples, that new life filled with hope that they are sharing, and the future that it represents – and we think of the arrival of the children; we think of the family when it grows, all this is hope; first the children and later the grandchildren.”    

Father Ortega, citing this Jubilee Year of Hope, also noted that “marriage is hope for the family, but also hope for the world. There is no surprise, we live in a world where we see wars, where we see injustices, hate, egoism, and grudges. And that is where matrimony has that mission, to be a fountain of hope. You married couples here present, you are the fountain of hope, the fountain of renewal for our Church, for our archdiocese, for each of our parishes and communities – you are the fountain of hope for today’s world; you are pilgrims of hope.” 

Citing the day’s Gospel reading from Luke, Father Ortega noted the hope that Jesus brought to  Simon Peter, James, and John when he guided them in catching a great number of fish and told them that from then on, they would be fishers of men. 

After the homily, as is tradition, the Mass celebrant led Church-married couples in renewing their vows. And he led a special prayer for civil-married and unmarried couples.

Kelvin and Altagracia Cabrera were among the couples who renewed their vows at the Mass. Their home parish is Our Lady of Fatima in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

“In renewing our vows, we receive the graces that we need in our marriage – and we remember that we have a commitment with our family and with society, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one,” Kelvin Cabrera, 34, told The Good Newsroom after Mass. With guidance from the MMC group, the couple entered holy matrimony in the Church three years ago after having had a civil marriage. They were at the Mass with their three children (and another soon on the way).  

Maximo Correa, who leads the MMC ministry with his wife Marcia, gave closing words of gratitude, and he read a list of 12 couples who, in 2023 and 2024, were married in the Church with preparation guidance from MMC. Each couple was then presented with a personalized cross as a symbol of their marriage bond.      

The MMC group has helped prepare many unmarried and civil-married couples for Church-bonded marriages. During the week leading up to the special Mass at the cathedral, the group held evening gatherings for couples (married or unmarried) at various parish halls: four in the Bronx, two in Manhattan, and one in Clifton, New Jersey.

For more information, visit: www.mmcatolico.org.