USA, Angie Santos. For those of us who experience the homesickness of living far away from a Schoenstatt Shrine, visiting one is always a special experience. The Shrine is our home, our oxygen tank, it’s like our gas station, or our door to heaven.
A few days before October 18th, I realized that the Jubilee of the Confidentia Shrine in Lamar, Texas was coming soon.. Well, I knew it,but I hadn’t made concrete plans to attend. Rosa Elena, a great Schoenstatt apostle in Houston, -where I have lived for six years- put me in touch with several people who also wanted to go, and we departed early this Sunday. My companions made sure that the atmosphere of the three-hour trip would be like a pilgrimage by praying the Rosary and sharing how they had prepared for this day and how important it was.
A splendid day, a gleaming Shrine
After several rainy weekends, October 17th and 18th were days that are not very common in South Texas at this time of year: The sky was blue, the sun was brilliant, and the temperature was very pleasant, it was around 68 º F or 20°C. (It is almost always sunny in Texas, but usually it is accompanied by unbearable heat and humidity).
We arrived at the perfect time, and we found parking directly behind the Shrine. I took my camera and went to the Shrine. The atmosphere was festive within the framework of the bay in the background; everyone was elegantly dressed, happy, the choir was rehearsing…. Close to the door, I had a great surprise, I saw a Sister that I like very much; she came from Querétaro for the Jubilee. She was one of the two sisters who I met when I arrived in Texas. Many times when I visited the Movement House in Austin, I experienced the sensation of being at home, thanks to her, since she was like a mother taking care of everyone down to the smallest detail. Without being concerned about whom she was conversing with, I immediately went to give her a hug, even though she is German… just the same, I hugged her a couple of times more. There are so many memories and experiences associated with her and with so many other people that I became profoundly excited.
Then I entered the Shrine and the experience continued… The Blessed Mother was surrounded with yellow roses, She looked splendid, radiant. Inside I met a friend from the couples group from Houston. She is Argentinean and a Schoenstatter like me since Girls’ Youth, and who surely experienced something similar to me and I told her how wonderful it is to be here in the Shrine! What a gift! During the time I knelt there, I felt an avalanche of graces and emotion. It was a Jubilee Day, 50 years. There are so many sacrifices, love, and prayers that have been given to this place. The Shrine was overflowing with graces.
Everyone who belongs to this beautiful Schoenstatt Family knows of the supernatural as well as the natural joys that we share; they are interwoven, they happen one after another. They are simple experiences, but they mark us.
Encounters and new friends
After visiting the Shrine, I continued to greet people I know, the parents of a friend from Chile who belong to the Movement in Chile and who are visiting, the parents of a Brazilian friend, they are great Schoenstatt apostles from Niteroi and Rio de Janeiro, who were also visiting, I also greeted people from so many countries, and friends from Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Fathers Christian Christiansen and Hector Vega. I also met new people like those who came as a group from New York and with whom I shared time, some of them were from my home country, Ecuador. Among other things, they told me that the day before on the horizon of the pier, two Sisters approached them. They had come for the first time from Milwaukee. They asked them if they had seen the dolphins, they said no, and at that moment a dolphin came close, and not only swam at the foot of the pier, but jumped around playing with a fish, it was a show especially for them.
It was very special to see two pepole with whom I shared the wonderful experience of Conference 2014 in February at Schoenstatt, Germany: Carlos Cantú, the elegant Master of Ceremonies of this event, and later Mark Leatherman, from the UT Boys’ Youth from Austin, who told me he would finish his studies this semester and then he was going “to Chile”…to the Novitiate of the Fathers…Obviously this news contributed to the already intricate whirlwind of emotions experienced within such a short time.
It was a perfect day to take photos
As I mentioned before, the day was splendid, the sky was blue, and it was a beautiful contrast with the vegetation, the pier, Copano Bay, the birds migrating toward the south for the joy of the people. I could not stop taking photos including or the celebration that was taking place: the serenade for Mary by a choir of youth accompanied by guitars, violins, and flutes, a skit about the Sacred Spring performed by the members of the Movement from Dallas, the Holy Mass, the beautiful crowning, the offering of gifts, and then the time of sharing at table and the talk by Sister Mary Martha Rodríguez.
On other occasions when I have been assigned to take photos of Schoenstatt events, I have had to figure out a way to do so without interrupting or interfering with other excited photographers. Many times their flashes have come out in my photos, I have had to run to get in front of them before they arrive, to focus so that they will not come out in the photo etc. etc. This time I was the one getting in the way, of the man who was, I think, the official photographer; I even stepped on his foot.. unknowingly, I got in front of him when he was taking photos, etc. etc. In any case, after ten years of collaborating with Sister M. Kornelia and the Schoenstatt Press Office, I feel I have certain rights of writing reports and taking photos because usually my photos will be on the www.schoenstatt.de photo album very quickly. http://schoenstatt.myphotoalbum.com and Sister Kornelia will publish my report although it is not “official”.
New life and mission
This time I preferred not to write this report in the third person, rather I wrote it as a personal experience to give testimony to the work of the Blessed Mother in this land. On this day and in this advantageous landscape, perhaps there are not tens of thousands of people like in Tuparenda, where they were celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Movement in Paraguay or the many that had just celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Shrine of Pozuelo in Madrid where Schoenstatt is at its height. Here in Texas, the Movement is smaller, but is experiencing sprouts of new life, it is in almost all the dioceses as Father Héctor mentioned: there are new Mothers’ and Youth groups in Dallas, a beautiful University Movement in Austin (thanks to the work of Father Jesús Ferrás amd Andrea Musalem of the Institute of Our Lady of Schoenstatt), desires for a Shrine by members of the Movement in Houston and other places, there are members of the Family Federation, Institute of Families, and many Pilgrim MTAs travel throughout all of Texas, and then there are the Mexican Shrines and the San Antonio Shrine, where the Movement is growing each day in number and depth; all are fruits of this Confidentia Shrine.
Facing the Shrine is a life-size bronze statue of Father Kentenich. It was beautiful to see this statue surrounded by his children who participated in the Mass and the Liturgies, with a background of a blue sky and the bay; there were groups taking photos with him in the middle. Father Kentenich did not know the Shrine during his lifetime, although he had been in Corpus Christi, Texas, about forty minutes away, long before it was inaugurated. He was eagerly awaited after his exile, but the visit was not possible because of his death. After his death, the Father Symbol, which was a gift for the Original Shrine and which is kept by the Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests, was sent on pilgrimage throughout the world. At that time, the Father Symbol was at the Shrine in Lamar. Today this same symbol was also visiting. This time the symbol began a new pilgrimage, as a result of Conference 2014, where the delegates suggested that it travel to the Shrines as a preparation for the 100th Jubilee of the Covenant of Love. The symbol was solemnly brought to the altar and then it was sent to the Shrine in San Antonio, Texas.
After the blessing with the Blessed Sacrament by Father Christian, the taped blessing given in German by Father Kentenich could be heard over the loudspeakers. It was the perfect ending for such a beautiful day filled with graces. Father Kentenich was here as the Father of Families gathering everyone as his children and sending us out with the mission of taking Mary, our Queen, Mother, and Victress to all the corners of the world.
The sunset covered the sky with beautiful colors. Everyone returned home happy whether near or far either by auto, bus, or plane, filled with gratitude, emotion and new strength.
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA/Melissa Janknegt, Elgin, USA
