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Toward 2014, in covenant with Russia
Agathe Hug/org. The scant snow crackled beneath people's feet as they move quickly and are wrapped up well against the cold. Although we were praying in covenant with Russia, we were not in Siberia, but in Schoenstatt, at fourteen degrees below zero. Of course, the Russians, especially in Siberia, do not care about our complaints about the "Siberian cold". However the circumstances in Schoenstatt were already a bit too cold.
The Iberian-American tertiary of the Fathers’, who have traditionally taken charge of the preparation for the Holy Mass on Saturday mornings, were not here this time. Sister M. Luciane spontaneously looked for songs that would be sung in common. The petitions were already prepared in Russian thanks to the Sisters of Mary, who speak this language; one song was also sung in Russian. Moreover, some Spanish was spoken: Father Jorge Eduardo Zegers from Chile was the main celebrant, and he con-celebrated with Father Pablo Pol from Argentina.
The invitation for this Mass on February 11th, the Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, recalled that in Russia— in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Kaliningrad— there is a small and growing Schoenstatt Family. The prayer of the community that participated in this Mass was for this Family in Russia and for everyone in this enormous country, so that someday, the Shrine’s current of graces will touch them, and they will seal their covenants of love…
We are on pilgrimage together, attached with the International Family
Just like every Saturday, the attachment with the International Schoenstatt Family- with everyone who is advancing in unity for the grace of 2014- and with the pilgrim Church of this year, is reflected in the intentions of the Holy Mass: the International Family on its pilgrimage to the jubilee of the covenant of love, its apostolic projects and missionaries in the strategic areas of the apostolate and on every step of our pilgrimage, for people who go on pilgrimage to Lourdes filled with confidence and especially for the sick of our Schoenstatt Family, for everyone who will come to our Shrines this weekend and who will continue to come, for the people of Syria and of the countries in the world that are dominated by violence, terrorism, and dictatorships…
All the names and the stories behind these intentions have a place in this small Shrine.
And we can say that more people than the previous Friday are downloading the general information and the intentions for the Holy Mass from the Internet (in the 2014 category, on pdf) to pray, united with everyone…
These are the contributions to the Capital of Grace
We again pray for all the intentions sent to the Original Shrine during the week and they are deposited in the Jar. This time they came from thirteen countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Germany, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Ecuador, Congo, Colombia, the United States, Switzerland and the Dominican Republic.
Someone asked: Are they contributions to the capital of grace? What are contributions to the capital of grace? Father Kentenich said: "What I bear and endure, what I say and what I dare…what I am and what I have, I give to you as a gift of love. Use it so that the holy stream of graces flowing richly from the shrine…" (Heavenwards, p. 16). It is the confidence in this offering to the Blessed Mother by a couple, whose marriage is destroyed, for the end of the war by the drug dealers in Mexico, for a person, who is gravely ill, for one's professional work, for the desire for a mate, for peace in Syria, or for a child, who is a drug addict child, confiding in Her as well as the prayer of the Schoenstatt Family in the Holy Mass of Saturday morning it will very surely be a contribution to the Capital of Grace that mobilizes heaven and that makes currents of grace to flow…it is confidence that is experienced 15,000 kilometers away, it is also the confidence of people who do not belong to the (organized) Movement, like that young Colombian, who "discovered this wonderful website surfing the internet and who now wants to be "a part of this current". She "sent" a relative "directly to the Shrine, who would undergo a difficult operation on this Saturday, and with it all my anguish." The currents of grace flow from here…
Also in Quarten!
The currents of grace also flow in other places: through the Schoenstatt internet website in Switzerland, since February 4th, it has been known that the Shrine of Quarten has a poster pointing to the year 2014, Schoenstatt's centenary! They have consciously joined with the Holy Masses celebrated in the Original Shrine. The announcement states: "A Mass has been held in the Original Shrine every Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m., since March 13, 2010, for any country, where Schoenstatt exists. This is a contribution for the preparation of the Schoenstatt Jubilee, and it is expressed with the words: IN COVENANT WITH… Everyone is invited to express gratitude and to pray for this country. On February 4, 2012, it was Romania's turn. We will pray for this country until February 10th and on the 11th it will be replaced by Russia. February 25th will be Switzerland's turn!"
Next Saturday – Covenant Day – “in covenant with Rwanda”
Next Saturday the Holy Mass will be celebrated in covenant with Rwanda. Will the day be warmer in Schoenstatt? Either way because it is the 18th, the Holy Mass will be transmitted live through schoenstatt-tv.
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation - M.Peña-Janknegt: English edit
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