BIS Mumbai
BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE # 3457
BONDED IN LOVE
By Amira Peter
NORTH ARABIAN VICARIATE-KUWAIT, MARCH 18, 2013: On Thursday March 14, 2013, the 
Cherubs Team of the Family Ministry of St Therese Parish in the North Arabian Vicariate organized its monthly program for couples married in 1994 and 1995. Fifty couples and around eighty children attended the programme.
The Program began with Mass at 6.30 pm celebrated by Fr. Joy Marangattikala. The liturgy focused on the marriage theme and the Holy Season of Lent. The liturgical singing was animated by the melodious voices of the school children, ably led by Faust and Reema Nash.
Through his homily, Fr. Joy illustrated that marriage is like a 
journey. Just like we prepare for a journey and need to refuel our tank and nourish ourselves with food and refreshments, so also does a marriage need refueling and refreshment from time to time. The Holy Mass was followed by a brief presentation by Leela Mathias on the various Parish activities. This was done to increase awareness and offer couples an opportunity to participate more actively in the parish community.
Next, over light snacks, an enrichment session was conducted by Dr. Milania Jacob on "A Christian Perspective of Work-Life Balance". Through her presentation, Dr. Milania discussed the impact of choices we make in favour of work. Citing scripture, she encouraged participants to incorporate more family-oriented and personal-life choices in their daily routine. Finally, she demonstrated some relaxation exercises and even took the participants through a brief calming meditation.
This enriching session was followed by a lively fellowship of games, spot prizes and dancing. Ice-breaker 
games gave the couples an opportunity to get to know others married in the same year. A game of musical crabs had the couples dancing in various entangled positions much to their amusement. The lively music provided by Shaun Rebello kept the couples on their feet while the MC Lloyd did a stellar job of keeping them all engaged and excited.
All this while, in a separate area, a special program was underway for the children to enable the couples to spend undisturbed, quality time together. The children's program included a variety of activities ranging from an animated movie, action songs, arts and crafts to Bible Bingo.
Towards the end of the program, the children joined the 
party. They brought the handcrafted cards they had made for their parents. After a lively game of passing the parcel, they performed an action song along with their parents. Vote of Thanks delivered by two participants expressed deep appreciation for the Cherubs and the Parish for organizing such an enjoyable and memorable evening.
Nourished and enriched, the happy families returned back to their homes. Several couples also volunteered to be active members in the parish by registering for the various parish activities. Feedback forms completed by the couples will help the Cherubs continuously improve the program over time.
Jeremiah 29: 11, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
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