ENGLAND, Mary Cole. Despite the wintry weather, a surprisingly large number of people gathered in the parish church at Kearsley next to the shrine. We would never have fitting in the shrine, so we had to move next-door. Ages ranged from over 80 to two weeks! A little girl was paying her first visit to the shrine and attending her first Covenant Mass.
Special mention has to be made of the Leeds group, the Rainbow Group, who had undertaken the long journey over the Pennines to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a group. They had prepared the liturgy and even accompanied the singing from the organ. One profoundly deaf member came with her little “hearing dog”. In order to share their history with us, the group had made a large poster with photos of main events in the group’s life, as well as their group “coat of arms”.
The altar stone from the first altar of the Original Shrine
Pride of place at the Mass was given to the MTA picture in front of which lay the altar stone from the original altar in the Original Shrine, which had been lent to England (and will go to Scotland for their October Day) by the Sion Province of the Schoenstatt Fathers. So we had a tangible connection to the Original Shrine and the foundation of Schoenstatt in 1914. This stone has been taken to various home shrines during its stay.
Since our Covenant Mass traditionally starts at 7.30 p.m., we were unable to log in to the celebrations in Schoenstatt. Fortunately it is possible to catch up later. A big thank you to schoenstatt-tv for this service.
Pilgrimage prayer 2014
In his sermon, Fr Bryan, connected the Year of the Father with the Year of the Shrine, showing how the fire burning in our Founder’s heart throughout his life ignited a similar fire in other hearts. We are now called to take up this fire and pass it on: Your Covenant – our Mission! At the end of Mass we usually go in procession to the shrine to pray the pilgrimage prayer 2014 and renew our covenant, but it was raining heavily so we did this in spirit from the church. This did not prevent many from visiting the shrine before and after the Mass.
Holy Mass is always followed by light refreshments, which offers everyone a chance to meet and exchange with members from other groups and areas. This time we welcomed our youngest member and her proud parents and grandparents. It also offers a chance for newcomers to find out more about Schoenstatt and make contact with existing groups in their area. To mark the Year of the Shrine, Milwaukee “Shrine Cookies” made an appearance for the first time and were greatly enjoyed. According to our Founder’s wish we “ate the love of the shrine”.
