From Melba and Pedro Lopez, Belmonte Pilgrims from Corrientes, Argentina •
Our dream: Belmonte, the shrine of all of us!
You can be sure that from this place of grace this year Mary is calling upon her allies, the hearts that follow Fr Kentenich, to open the doors of mercy!
And from Belmonte she does it in the way this shrine does it, which has been marked by Latin America, and which nestles in the heart of the Church, in Rome.
It does one good to discover Belmonte surrounded by gentle hills marked by history, where it rises up with its own original radiance. On St Gemma Street it lifts itself up with its buoyant and vital flags on the breezes. And then the huge banner of the MTA made from many, many faces which we sent in as we prepared for 2014. Each shrine has a mission, and each shrine challenges the children of the MTA. When we got to know the Original Shrine “at the confluence of the Rhein and Mosel”, we were overwhelmed and blinded by the staunchness, strength and fruitfulness of a large family, and in our hearts we felt that here the holy fire of Fr Kentenich’s work had been lit. Then, when we got to know Belmonte, we discovered this joyous combination of freshness and youthfulness, this simple combination of simplicity and creativity in everything. Belmonte is blossoms, vitality, spring, zest, even to the fronts of the houses; it is light and open.
Each of these adjectives contains what Schoenstatt can give our Church. Belmonte can give joy. Fr Kentenich often spoke about the educational value of joy, Sr M. Annette Nailis wrote in “Wie wir ihn erlebten” – How we Knew Him. He inspired us to create rooms in which joy reigns and offers a home. He dreamt of communities and families as gardens of joy.
Belmonte can also give the Church this heroic faith in Divine Providence that gives rise to smiles in the soul and on faces, and that in the midst of the violence and tremendous problems of this third millennium.
