Fr. José María García. Today, Good Friday, is a day of total surrender and sacrifice...a day on which, in the gesture of yesterday, the gesture of Jesus doing the work of a slave, kneeling before us to wash the dirt from our feet, is made absolute; He allows himself to be raised on the cross of scandal, making himself undesirable to his contemporaries, and He does this for our unfaithfulness and sins...for our most authentic and tangible weaknesses...and thus frees us from them.  His love of complete servitude has freed us...

org. There are Tabor hours in Schoenstatt – hours in which Schoenstatt shows its most beautiful face, its most beautiful soul; hours in which the best finds spontaneous expression from the depths of its charism and its experience of its origins. We can be sure that Conference 2014 was one such moment. Another such moment was the news of 20 February this year and the days that followed, which could have unleashed only suffering and insecurity. "I am really impressed by the echo to the news of my illness, and of my having to give up the leadership tasks for 2014 which followed from it," remarked Fr José María García during a conversation with schoenstatt.org. "It has made me aware of the tremendous potential for the renewal of life that exists in our worldwide Family when it is challenged to offer and make great sacrifices, whether on the grounds of health, limitations or inabilities." This has given rise to an equally simple and brilliant initiative motivated by the original spirit and the spirit of 2014: Covenant solidarity, contributions in the covenant, a definite covenant between those responsible for tasks in preparing for the jubilee, and those responsible for sacrifice, offers and contributions. These are as practical and personal as the covenant itself. The covenant, in this instance a covenant of brothers and sisters in the service of the mission and the projects in which the mission becomes tangible.

Fr. José María García. Dear Friends,
Filled with great gratitude for all the life and all the expectations that have been generated around the jubilee of our international Family, and at this moment when my contribution to our common pilgrimage has to change, I want to turn to you all via our media – our international page and our Jubilee Newsletter.

Fr. José María García - official Newsletter 2014/3. The Cardinals of our Church are meeting today, 17 February, in the new Synod Hall in the Vatican for a day of prayer and reflection on the subject of "the proclamation of the Gospel today, between Missio ad gentes (Mission to all people) and new evangelisation". At the same time we are receiving the third of our information and motivational newsletters for our great "pilgrimage to the Original Shrine on 18 October 2014, which is open to all", as the Message 2014 stated, because we know that "places and times have the character of sacramentals" for us.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER 2014/Fr. José María García. There is only a few days left until we cross the 1000 day threshold (as can be witnessed on the countdown clocks on some of our Schoenstatt websites) on our international pilgrimage toward the jubilee of the Covenant of Love, from the great moment of grace, October 18, 2014, in the Original Shrine, in Rome, and - as it is stated in the Message 2014: in "… a world-wide live link to the celebration held at our place of origin. In this way, the current of graces radiating from the original shrine and the extensive fruitfulness returning to the original Schoenstatt after 100 years will be fully expressed."

P. José María García. "The pilgrim people follow the footsteps of Mary," a phrase Blessed John Paul II pronounced on the eve of the great Jubilee of Redemption in the Holy Year 2000. In its simplicity and strength, it awakens a certain nostalgia, awakening in the soul impressions of the atmosphere of pilgrimage: of joy, simplicity, hymns and prayers, shared faith, common testimony, of paths, effort and joyful tiredness, of brotherhood, and especially the way to the Shrine. The pilgrimage -a universal religious experience - is closely connected to the Shrine, whose life is constituted by an indispensable element: the pilgrim needs a Shrine, and the Shrine requires pilgrims.

org. On December 23rd, the first official bulletin for Jubilee 2014 was publsihed – it is not a coincidence that it happened a few days before Christmas.  The Schoenstatt Family is experiencing its great Advent of Jubilee 2014, hoping that a new October 18th “will be born”.  This informative and inspiring bulletin will be published in (Spanish, English, German, Portuguese, and Italian) month by month until October 2014.  We are publishing Father José María García’s letter.

Amelia Peirone. It should be said that the heart of the servant of God, Mario Hiriart, would be filled with boundless joy if we were to discover him preparing for the 2014 Jubilee under the motto "Your Covenant, our mission." Surely he senses it as an urgent and inevitable calling to which he only wants to say 'Yes.' He certainly receives it as an inspiration to build, to begin the work, to fulfill it. It would be just as Father did it, and foundation of the family …..that which the prayer for the centennial jubilee comprises: "Father Kentenich's providential faith motivated you to build a house in Schoenstatt."

org. There are moments which perhaps only last a minute or less, and they become a message for years, for centuries. During the Youth Vigil with the Holy Father, last September 24th in Friburg, a KNA photographer captured one of these moments: The Light of Christ offered by a Church giving witness - represented in the missionary Pilgrim Virgin and a youth who is hoisted onto the shoulders of others. Spontaneously, Father José María García, leader of Team 2014 - responsible for the preparation of Jubilee 2014 - called it "Image of the New Evangelization." Schoenstatt.org spoke with Fr. José María García about this photograph seen in the context of 2014 and the New Evangelization.

Fr. José María García. On 9 October many shrines in the world will begin a novena in preparation for 18 October when thousands of people in over a hundred countries will celebrate the covenant of love with the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt and start the second year of the triennium of preparation for the jubilee of the covenant of love: the Year of the Shrine Current. In the Original Shrine the international opening will be celebrated on the eve of 18 October - at 9 p.m. local time on 17 October, transmitted live by schoenstatt-tv.