The celebration of a Christmastide wedding was a really beautiful way to begin the New Year. What a powerful expression of hope a marriage is, especially if, like this one, the couple are practising Catholics and faith is the deepest motivation of their lives.

That the wedding day itself marked the real beginning of married life, and not just a kind of formalisation of goods which have already been possessed and enjoyed by that point, added to the power of the day. In almost 20 years as a priest I have witnessed the celebration of such marriages perhaps just four or five times. They are always marked by a particular quality of joy in the couple which radiates upon all the guests, whatever their state.