Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Echaves: Back to the basics By Lelani P. Echaves Thinking Aloud
EFFECTIVE Easter Sunday, weddings shall be in keeping with the rites of the church and not the “tactics” of the wedding planner. And “the liturgy is a prayer...not a theatrical production.” So said my good friend, Msgr. Achilles Dakay, archdiocesan media liaison officer.
It’s high time! Long overdue, the church guidelines are very welcome. For years now, I purposely kept away from such theatrical productions, and so I merely sent my gifts to the newlyweds’ house or reception site.
The new guidelines should relieve both bride and bridegroom. Weddings are not easy. Rest becomes very dispensable, even up to the wedding date. Always, there is some last-minute thing to attend to. If it isn’t the flower girl getting sick, or the ring bearer throwing a tantrum, it could be a lack in the full complement of something old, something new, something borrowced, something blue.
Thus, that blush on the bride’s cheeks on her wedding day is more often cosmetic than the natural rush of happiness. And many a time, I’ve seen newlyweds perspiring profusely under the glare of the lights while they took Holy Communion, or said their marriage vows. Haven’t we seen newlyweds slumping on their seats and saying “Whew!”?
Last Saturday at the Capitol parish church, I saw the wedding guidelines strictly followed by newlyweds Vivien Cherissa “Che-Che” Egos and Ronald “Tab-Tab” Sarmago. Officiated by the bridegroom’s brother, Fr. Miguelito, the wedding ceremony lasted less than an hour. While the officiating priest cracked a joke on Ronald, the youngest of their brood, the ceremony nevertheless remained sacred and solemn.
Che-Che, one of five daughters of Joven and Bebs Egos, is a CPA and works at Land Bank. Husband Ronald, a former seminarian, studies law at the University of San Carlos. Neighbors in Argao and childhood friends, their wedding has the full blessings of parents and relatives. And so, the wedding reception at the Grand Convention Center was one big gathering of families and friends.
At Che-Che and Tab-Tab’s wedding, the rich baritone of Jed Castro offered songs truthful to the teachings of the church. No place for secular and popular music pieces. Even the lectors and psalmists were handpicked, with nary a distraction for the faithful.
Even the photographer and videographer behaved, keeping to the sides and moving quietly and discreetly. And Fr. Miguelito’s homily, though punctuated at times with levity, reminded all that for all its built-in life-long vows of faithfulness and togetherness through thick and thin, marriage was not to be taken lightly.
The Catholic church’s back-to-the-basics guidelines return the refreshing quality in the preparations. Arcs and canopies in the sanctuary and entrances of churches, customized booklets for the liturgy, and the ritual of throwing rice, birdseed, confetti, flowers, and petals are disallowed within the church and church grounds.
For once in a long time, I witnessed a wedding as it was always meant to be.
