CHILE, Family Coordination “Tierra Joven from Curicó. The Schoentatt Family from city of Curicó, Region of Maule, Chile sends a special greeting on this 18th, the day of renewing the Covenant of Love with our beloved Blessed Mother. They unite spiritually every month with everyone throughout the world to embody the family that the Founder and Father desired.
With the majority of the Schoenstatt Fathers in the country present, the Sisters of Mary, and close to 4, 500 people, who came from all parts of Chile and beyond, Bishop of the Diocese, Don Horacio Valenzuela Abarca, blessed the shrine in Curicó on November 8, 2008. It was the first Shrine consecration transmitted throughout the world on-line via Internet. The advisers visit there only every two or three months, and these visits only coincide with the 18th occasionally.
The Movement does not have a permanent priest in Curicó or in any nearby city. However, they have cultivated a close relationship with the Diocesan Bishop and with the priests from this area that allows them to have the presence of one every month. In this way, little by little, they have learned about the Schoenstatt pedagogy and spirituality.
A greatly anticipated day for the entire family
The Covenant Mass is celebrated in the Shrine during the summer months. The Covenant of Love renewal ceremony is held in the atrium and the capital of grace is burned. During the cold weather months, the Mass is held in the “Dilexim Ecclesiam” Hall of the Father Joseph Kentenich Training House, and then there is a procession to the Shrine to renew the Covenant.
The 18th of every month is truly a day that is anticipated by the entire family of “Tierra Joven”, since they can share the Eucharist; renew their physical and spiritual strength through the contact with the Blessed Sacrament and the attachment to the Shrine. They also get to visit with one another to find out what is happening with each one of them and the many pilgrims, who do not participate in the training activities of the Movement, but who continue united through the much loved Mass on the 18th.
“From this small city of south central Chile, source of the best fruit and wines of the world, we wish each one of you and to the families and communities a “Happy 18th.”
Note: After a two-month interruption, the schoenstatt.org collaborators initiative of inviting the entire international Schoenstatt Family on a pilgrimage from Shrine to Shrine, every 18th of the month returns. From 18th to 18th, the doors of a Shrine (Daughter Shrine, wayside shrine, Homeshrine…) are opened to the entire family, allowing them to participate in the graces and in the life that is born around that Shrine. It is a contribution of the collaborators of this website (who are in charge of “opening” a Shrine every month) with the desire that during the triennium toward the jubilee of the Covenant of Love a more attached, united family will grow. The doors have already been opened in the Shrines of Tuparenda-Paraguay, Monterrey -Mexico, the Wayside Shrine of Goya -Argentina and the Shrine of Bellavista – Chile.
Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, Tx. English translation – M. P. Janknegt: English edit
