ARGENTINA, María Susana Badiola/mkf. In Coronel Suárez, Schoenstatt is growing step by step, organically, and without stopping through: the Rosary Campaign, a wayside shrine, Dawn Breakers, families, mothers, youth…and for some months now, Mary’s Volunteers. On September 8, 1982, Raquel Sáenz Valiente, as an instrument of Divine Providence and encouraged by Father Esteban Uriburu, founded Mary’s Volunteers of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement. Its mission is multifaceted: to help the sick with their physical and spiritual needs by offering them consolation, affection during their time of anguish and loneliness, and by bringing them peace, joy, and hope so that they can live with dignity as children of God at all times. Presently there are more than 300 volunteers offering their assistance in twenty-five hospitals throughout Argentina, where they have already visited over 1,200,000 sick people including in Coronel Suárez.
This is María Susana Badiola’s testimony:
When things are of God, it is only a matter of waiting… And the Volunteers of Mary in Coronel Suárez have been God’s will, and of course the warm embrace of the Blessed Mother, who is the Mother of all. It began timidly from the restlessness of a mother from the Mothers’ Branch, which meets every Wednesday in the home of Julia Sáenz. The meetings had begun in the home of her sister, Juana, years before. Suddenly a road of challenges and commitment opened up to me, but Mary was there with her hand extended to me. So hold on strongly. The Mother acts, she works quietly, and perseveringly in the heart and in the will: she is untiring!
Small -large miracles in daily life
Juana and Julia are the daughters of Raquel Sáenz Valiente, the founder of Mary’s Volunteers – nothing is coincidence. During a visit to the Shrine of Riobamba in Buenos Aires to pick up an order for our dear Father Esteban Casquero for the parish library, there was a printed brochure, which I still have, on the table for announcements at the entrance, and it was then that she asked herself if she wanted to be a Volunteer of Mary. A smile came to my face, which I have not lost since then. So many incredible things have happened to me since then; there were so many stones, the size of mountains before me, which dissolved at the most unexpected time.
Finally on June 16th with all the joy that grace gives, we made our first visit to visit the sick in the hospital, but were also aware of being very small…wanting to be like little Marys. Then like never before, there was a certainty in us that today is so palpable, so visible in the hands of Father Kentenich and accompanied by our Blessed Mother, we are simple instruments of love, which makes the unimaginable, because of our limitations, possible, and these small -large miracles of daily life appear before our eyes that never fail to surprise us.
Many dreams of serving more and more brothers/sisters of our community
The power of love, always love. The discovery and acceptance of the love they give is nothing compared with the love we receive at every moment. Everything has meaning in love. It has been five months, and we continue firm in our mission. Holding hands, the Mary’s eleven volunteers have many dreams of serving more and more brothers/sisters in their community, who welcome them each day with great affection. They celebrate their decision to become volunteers, but above all there is a joy that surges from the most profound of our hearts because WE ARE MARY’s.
