CHILE, Carmen M. Rogers. The Annual Retreat of the External Adoration Circle in Bellavista was a very special and anticipated moment during the year. Providentially, it had to be changed to Saturday, October 22nd, a few days after the opening of the Year of the Shrine.
As always, as soon as we entered, we felt at home welcomed by the three Adoration Sisters who are in Bellavista. Each one of them is an embrace from the Blessed Mother for everyone; they are interested in our lives, problems, and petitions.
After a short introduction, Father Agustín Álvarez presented a talk, Father of Adoration.
We are accustomed to symbols that attract and retain our attention, but they are always surprised.
At the beginning of his talk, a rose, which he had cut earlier at the monastery, was presented to the Blessed Mother with its beauty, aroma, and freshness…and its thorns that symbolize one’s life just like it is. Then he announced, “I am going to show a different photo of the Shrine,” he turned the poster, and he showed us a Google map of the Bellavista area in the neighborhood of greatest growth in Santiago: the Shrine is here, in the midst of our life, but the Shrine is unseen.
At some time in our life, the Shrine is hidden!
“It is good for everyone to recall how we lived without it” – he said – “And it speaks to us of how each one travels through his/her own streets to one day reach the Shrine where ‘God awaits me in the eyes of Mary.'”
How can we not be grateful for this sacred history of attachment to this Shrine where I learned to say “Blessed Mother?” How can we not learn to love as She did in the “Workshop of Love”? And to discover that love is not only a feeling, but, it is an life option?
To speak about the Shrine is to speak about the Father’s heart
“The Shrine is a gift” – Father Agustín continued in his reflection – And here he discovered a beautiful gift that was still hidden.
While he removed the ribbons and paper from the gift to leave a small Shrine on the altar, he continued to make us think: “For it to be a gift, someone has to give it to me.” And Father Kentenich was the instrument that God chose to give me this gift: “To speak about the Shrine is to speak about Father’s heart, Schoenstatt’s heart.
And Mary is present in this heart through the Covenant, that attachment of love, which captivated the Blessed Mother.
God took the initiative so that the Shrine would be born through Father. God wanted Schoenstatt to be born from the Shrine and that it would be born from what Father carried within himself.
Father Kentenich said: “I believe that the Schoenstatt soul is only born when it captures the importance of the Shrine, and it begins an attachment to the Little Chapel.”
“As we know, the Shrine is not born from an extraordinary intervention of God, like the apparitions: the Shrine is fruit of a divine initiative and of a close human collaboration… It is not only something of God, He needs us.”
A Shrine of open doors
As he opened the door of the Shrine on the altar, Father Agustín called our attention to this detail: “A Shrine with an open door will have life as long as there are people who will bring their life to it.”
“God has taken a risk with us, giving the Shrine the “nothing without us”. The Shrine can only be born, have life, and fulfill its mission with us.
Father does not want to anything without the Family, so we can not only go to the Shrine to ask and to receive as it usually happens in other shrines that have been born without human collaboration. We have to have a covenant attitude “nothing without you, nothing without us” – that is, to be active as the Blessed Mother’s instruments.”
“To be Father’s ally is to allow myself to be educated by the Blessed Mother and to make a serious effort at my self-education.” This is the capital of grace, a concrete, personal effort that seeks to collaborate with God growing in the holiness of life. Good intentions are not enough. The capital of grace of each Schoenstatter makes it possible for the Shrine and for Schoenstatt to live and to fulfill its mission.”
Christ in the Tabernacle is the heart of the Shrine
“As an Adoration Circle, it is our task to insure that this heart be praised and adored. How can we express gratitude for so much love if it is not through Adoration? How can we insure that the Heart of the Shrine continues to bless the Family, the Church, and the world?” It is by insuring that the doors of the Tabernacle can be opened and will remain open.
Father Kentenich adores with us
Every time that we go for adoration to the Shrine, Father adores with us. We find him there; once and again he teaches us there to continue to adore Jesus in life, recognizing that God is present in people and situations “with the hand on the pulse of time”.
A talk that left no one indifferent
With this call to conquer the Shrine more and more each day and to grow in this mission of being Guardians of the Shrine and Custodians of Adoration, we were touched by Father Agustín’s life giving words, and we arrived at the time of solemn Adoration. It was a heavenly moment of intimate and close dialogue with Jesus. It was also one of commitment, and judging by the exchange during lunch and the first hour of the afternoon, it was a renewing desire of life.
The day ended that afternoon with Holy Mass celebrated in the New Cenacle Shrine close to the Sisters’ Adoration House.
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation – Melissa Peña-Janknegt: English edit
