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May we be living Shrines and a home for a fatherless world...
ARGENTINA, Claudia Echenique. On January 20tth, the Argentinean Family celebrated the 60tth Anniversary of the New Schoenstatt Shrine, Florencio Varela, with the presence of the Father Symbol, which is on pilgrimage in Argentina.
Toward the evening of a day of oppressive heat, everyone arrived like birds to their nest, like children coming home. The families from La Plata, Villa Ballester, San Isidro, Belgrano, Confidentia, Quilmes, Avellaneda, Adrogué and allover the Buenos Aires area came to Florencio Varela to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Father Shrine. The Sisters of Mary prepared every detail so that the event would be a true celebration.
Procession with the Father Symbol
At 7:00 p.m., Father Javier Arteaga, Director of the Movement in Argentina, began the procession from the entry gate of New Schoenstatt, just like Father Kentenich did on the 20th of January 1952, when he arrived to bless this Shrine. He carried the Father Symbol on pilgrimage in Argentina at this time. The Bulfon's carried the Crown of the Family Work.
After pausing for a few minutes in front of the picture of the Immaculate and Father's oratory, the procession that was led by the flags, continued toward the Church of God the Father for the celebration of the Eucharist. The Sisters of Mary choir accompanied the procession and the Mass with music.
Father Guillermo Mario Cassone, who recently arrived from Rome, and José Neuenhofer, a German priest who is living in Bolivia, were among the ten priests who con-celebrated the Mass. Many Sisters of Mary also attended; among them there were sixteen, who were present at the blessing of the Shrine 60 years ago!!
The Father who walks among the trees of this place
Father Juan Pablo Catoggio recalled the 20th of January 1942 in his homily, when Father Kentenich made "a difficult decision" that resulted in his imprisonment in Dachau. It was an event that changed his life and that of the Schoenstatt Family. It was a Covenant event to an extreme degree lived as a community of destinies between Father and his family. It was a solidarity of destinies and of chains. At that time he said: "I am here for you. If I am to be free, it will be for you." This awakened a current of life in Schoenstatt, of giving of self of the Family, and in a special way for the Sisters of Mary in our province of Nazareth. This united them very closely to the Founder and Father in this new covenant of commitment with the mission.
Then he stressed, "This same spirit and this profound spirituality of destinies with him is the foundation of this Shrine." It is a Shrine, which cost dearly and took a long time to become concrete. And precisely ten years after Dachau, Father arrived almost miraculously to bless it. He blessed it with his tears, with the sorrow of his soul in the midst of a separation from his own. He was misunderstood, unjustly sanctioned, separated from his Family Work, and on the way to exile.
It was a separation that like that 20th of January 1942 brought about an inseparable union, a unity of hearts, an interweaving of life, of blessing with him and among us, that made us a Family forever.
Father Juan Pablo also recalled, "In 1992 fifty years after Dachau and on the 40th Anniversary of the Shrine of Florencio Varela, this Church of God the Father was built as an extension of the Shrine, as a special House, where Mary wants to educate men and women who reflect the good Father. We want to show this world that is orphaned by fathers a Nation that is family and that is born of the Shrine."
Ten years later, the 20th of January 2002, the statue of the Founding Father was blessed.
Today after sixty years, we are gathered with a great gratitude for everything that we have experienced in this place. Encounters with the Blessed Mother in the Shrine, with Father who "walks among the trees of this place," and Family experiences.
A mission that gives our lives a horizon and meaning
We have a mission which gives our lives a horizon and meaning: " 'we give our all' for a Father who is not simply a 'good natured person,' but rather he is a Father, who is a prophet, who invites us to commit ourselves today like he did in 1942, and like the sodalists did in 1914. Today our commitment is the loyalty to him and to his work and his mission."
In conclusion, Father Juan Pablo proposed "two signs that should remain as a reflection of this 60th Anniversary, which perhaps cannot happen quickly in the exterior. The first is the Original Shrine, which we had hoped to have in our hands and it still isn't. We would like to celebrate 2014 "at home", but we do not know when or how it will be."
He recalled that "when Father Kentenich blessed this Shrine he said that everything that is true of the Original Shrine, is true of this Shrine." And referring to this place he said: "The Shrine should be a sign of faith, a sign of unity, a sign of struggle, and a sign of victory."
"Today I propose that those words that he said here, be applied to the Original Shrine. Today, the Original Shrine should be a sign of faith, a sign of unity, a sign of struggle, and a sign of victory."
May each of us be a living Shrine, Father's Shrine
Shrine. Like Jesus said, "The Father lives in me and I in the Father. The Father and I are one. So, whoever sees me sees the Father." We want Father and the Blessed Mother to live in us and make our heart their Shrine, their favorite place. During this Year of the Shrine, we want to be a living Shrine, home for the world" as a Family.
Homily of Father Juan Pablo Catoggio
After the Mass, everyone went in procession to the Shrine. It was already night, and when everyone left the church, they were very surprised to see the Shrine illuminated with different colors. Father Javier Arteaga placed the Father Symbol on the altar of the Shrine close to a 2014 triennium candle, so everyone could pray in front of it.
After watching a video about Father Kentenich and the Father Shrine, everyone gathered in front of the Shrine, they lit a small candle from the candle of the altar and they renewed the Covenant of Love together, and they prayed the Pilgrimage Prayer 2014.
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation - Melissa Peña-Janknegt: English edit
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