Something to think about Category

by Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa, member of the Editorial Board of schoenstatt.org • This week, the world has witnessed one of the most contentious elections of recent times. America’s election was foreshadowed by a mud-slinging contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  But through all the mud, the election contest didn’t focus on the national economy or foreign policy.  It was a campaign about values. Clinton appealed to the extension of civil rights while Trump’s “Let’s make America great again” slogan appealed to the traditional values of familyRead More
Fr. Guillermo Carmona, National Director for the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina • We share the covenant letter sent to the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina with a message that can be adapted and applied to all of our realities.   Dear brothers and sisters in the Covenant, Every 18th of October, we are invited to immerse ourselves in the mystery of the Covenant to give thanks and remember the Blessed Mother’s actions in the history of our Family. We would not be what we are if she had not touched theRead More
Carlos E Barrio and Lipperheide, Lawyer- Coach, Argentina • Rejoice is the first word God directs to mankind in the Gospel.[1]  It is the first word he wants to give us.  He knows us and knows how much we need to feel welcomed, loved, and need to find meaning to our lives and work. But it seems that we have largely lost the joy. We experience work as a meaningless activity, often feeling depressed and emptied of life meaning. The painful side of work dominates the contemporary productive process, emptied ofRead More
BONDS OF SOLIDARITY, Maria Fischer • For over five years, Schoenstatt.org has hosted a service that imitates Fr. Kentenich’s initiative in the early years of Schoenstatt, the beginnings of a  Schoenstatt that goes out, specifically to the World War I trenches, making it possible for prayers, thanksgiving and commitments of the Schoenstatt youth to reach the their “little chapel” as they called what we today know as our Original Shrine. By clicking on the “Letters for Mary” link, you can send letters to the Blessed Mother from anywhere in theRead More
A Chilean contribution to a discussion that often seems limited to Europe. By Fr. Hugo Tagle The number of immigrants in Chile has increased by 123% in the last decade.  From Haiti alone, more than 20,000 immigrants arrived in six months, that is, 110 a day.  Chile’s foreign policy has become more flexible and open to the world, following the trend of developing countries and the call of the UN to welcome millions of displaced people throughout the world. This is a sign of openness that enriches our cultural heritage,Read More
WORLD DAY OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION 2017 • «Fear not, for I am with you» (Is 43:5). Communicating hope and trust in our time: This is the motto chosen by Pope Francis for the World Day of Social Communication celebrated in 2017. The press release says:   Numbness of conscience or letting desperation get the better of us are two possible “diseases” that our current communication system can cause. It is possible that our conscience is cauterised, as Pope Francis comments in Laudato si’, as a result of the fact thatRead More
Fr. Guillermo Carmona • The last few weeks have been intense in regard to social, religious and sports events.  “Life,” said St. Thomas, “is a constant movement” whose goal is to grow toward greater fullness.  From among all those events, I pick out two for our meditation:  the Pope’s encounter with the Youth in Poland and the Olympics in Brazil. “With a hand on the pulse of time…” I was overjoyed to breathe anew the fresh air entering the Church like a breath from the Spirit.  The Pope’s message doesRead More
By Fr. Guillermo Carmona, National Director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina • During these days in which we celebrate (Argentina’s Bicentennial of)  Independence, I invite you to reflect on the concept of independence, beyond its meaning and its impediment in political history.  We can, in this sense, ask ourselves about our being independent and how we live this attribute positively in our daily life. Independence is related to liberty and autonomy.  To become that new man which Schoenstatt proposes implies being a free and autonomous man, a man withRead More
By Francisco Pistilli, Bishop of Encarnación, Paraguay •   When mercy is talked about, one begins to think about many things….. I would like to mention something concrete about this year:  since it was God himself who placed us into this since this past February, in tune with the Jubilee Year.  As a result of the Paraguay River flooding, and the communities flooded in the Pilar zone, here in Encarnación especially there was a team formed called “Itapúa Solidarity” with initiatives from the Government, the City, the Rotary Club, theRead More
Fr. Pedro Kühlcke, Prison Ministry, Paraguay • Sometime ago, Pepito was finally able to tell me his life story:  “I was eleven years old when my parents separated.  My father is an alcoholic; he abused my mother until she could no longer take it.  I decided to go live with him, because I knew that he would not place limits on me.  I began with cigarettes and alcohol, and then the drugs came.  I even did drugs in front of him, but he never told me anything-he was usually tooRead More