BRASIL, Pauline Almeida, Otávio C. Ávila. During the most recent World Missions Day, Pope Benedict XVI said the following: “Missionary activity is the response to the love with which God loves us […]; it is the spiritual energy that is capable of making the human family grow in harmony.” In taking this spirit of the love of God to people and making it concrete in family life, ninety-five Schoenstatt missionaries from Ibiporá went to Barbosa Ferraz for the Family Missions, which was carried out this February 12th through the 16th.
They were sent forth as fathers, mothers, and children with the objective of visiting the residents of the place belonging to the Diocese of Campo Mourao. In addition they also encouraged meetings with children, youth, adults, along with celebrating Carnival through the Missionary Celebration. Furthermore these missions would serve as one of the last activities of the four postulants of the Schoenstatt Fathers’ community – one of them is from Ibiporá- , and for Father Alexandre Awi, who was named National Director of the Movement, and Sr. Rosana Silva, who would leave for Portugal.
The missions were not limited to the activities with the people from the city; they were also a time of communion and of spiritual growth for the missionaries. This year the theme was the Holy Family: how motherhood, fatherhood, and childhood should be lived out.
When God sent his Son to the world, he gave him an earthly family
When God sent his Son to the world, he gave him an earthly family -Mother Mary and Father Joseph – and Jesus lived thirty years with them before fulfilling his destiny. The Holy Family is virtuous and a model to follow, since it is an example of giving of self and trusting in Divine Providence. The growth over time that the Ibiporá Schoenstatt Family has had after three editions of the Family Missions is noticeable. At present the couples, youth, and children know each other better, since they seek to incorporate and live the experience of work and love by sharing with each other.
They not only fulfilled the task of bonding during the four days that they spent in Barbosa Ferraz; but the bond among the members of the Schoenstatt Family from Ibiporá was nourished to help them so that they can work for the building of their Shrine.
“For those who doubt that we can be a Schoenstatt FAMILY, there is an open invitation to participate in the Family Missions, where we transform that desire into a very concrete reality,” said Eder Campos, a member of the Boys’ Youth from his foundation in the city. This should also be one of the desires of the local Family for the future. This model of missions has reached great dimensions within our Movement, and it needs to become relevant as a stream of life. We hope that in the near future all the Schoenstatt families in Brazil can concretely live the Christian mission to which we are called by the Church today.
