ARGENTINA, Silvia Losada. The 3rd Regional Conference for Leaders of Northeastern Argentina was held in Tucumán on May 11th and 12th. With the motto: “With Mary, afire for the Mission”, the representatives from Salta, Santiago del Estero, Lavalle, Catamarca and the host province, Tucumán, sought guidelines to lead their work during the Year of the Missionary Stream.
With joy for meeting and expectation for the subjects to be discussed, they were willing to spend two intense days as a united family, beneath a beautiful sun that welcomed and accompanied them throughout the two conferences.
Father Guillermo Cassone, adviser for Northeastern Argentina, centered them on the theme: Missionary Church and we, missionary disciples.
Mary was the first missionary, who the saints and some popes and founders of ecclesial movements followed.
As Pope Francis has said that the mission is to go out from the enclosed toward the peripheries, to show the Father’s mercy and the presence of the living Christ, and to serve everyone, giving preference to the poor. Show that Schoenstatt IS MISSION with a true apostolic spirit.
He who has a mission should fulfill it…
After the group work, it was time for lunch. The members of the Family Work worked busily in the kitchen. The men prepared delicious rice in an enormous paella pan, to the delight of the participants of the conference.
It is important to stress the spirit of service and the joy of service that they all showed. As Benjamín Paz, Leader of the Family Work said, each person should fulfill the mission that has been entrusted to him/her. For them, it was through cooking and serving their Schoenstatt brothers and sisters.
At table, the attachment grew among the different provinces, branches and the social actions of the movement; they used this time to socialize and to share experiences.
As the Tucumán afternoon grew, they went praying the rosary to the Blessed Mother’s Wayside Shrine, which is located a few blocks away.
Schoenstatt is mission
José and Cecilia Sanguinetti, Leaders of the Family Work of Salta and who belong to the Family Institute, constitute a couple from Salta who offers their knowledge of Schoenstatt wherever the Blessed Mother sends them.
Pepe related that every time that they are invited to give a talk, they load the car with their five children (fifteen to a year and a half in age) and committed, gladly embarking.
This is how they arrived in Tucumán, demonstrating that one who desires it, will, even with a large family.
Cecilia began her presentation saying that Father Joseph Kentenich’s life serves as an example for us of giving of self in sorrow and as an orphan. Father Kentenich’s life is a mission to imitate.
The common mission of Schoenstatters is the new man in the new community.
After Pepe’s presentation, they worked in groups on a workshop aimed at presenting a missionary project that would respond to the different problems that were posed.
New zeal and new missionary methods
A panel of presenters showed that the Schoenstatt Family from Tucumán has many social actions that help the community and the neediest.
Among them: the Rosary Campaign, with many missionaries committed to their mission; Mary in Solidarity, with projects that are carried out in the Shrine, the schools, dining rooms, and poor neighborhoods; Youth Mission, also works in social actions; Youth that works to promote a better society, with values, departing from each one being better and helping to build a nation that is more just and responsible; Couples, educating from the family for a society of values, and the Shrine Pastoral, with the enormous responsibility of welcoming the pilgrims, maintaing the Shrine, preparing liturgies, organizing everything for the Masses, and many more tasks.
Father Kentenich’s experience of mission
With this title, Sister María Pilar Carrêre presented the Founding Father’s entire course, from the sending forth of the first Sisters of Mary to America, to conquering souls for the Blessed Mother.
It was a very touching moment when during her presentation a photo of Sister Margarita appeared; she was a Tucumán vocation, who gave her life at the age of thirty-one, fulfilling her mission in the Mater Dei Hospital, in Buenos Aires; she was loved by all the patients and personnel of this center.
Sharing, with missionary joy and fire
After the Holy Mass, they went to a large patio, where the aroma of barbeque filled the air; it was prepared once again by “the Blessed Mother’s cooks.”
The youths provided their share of humor at the bonfire, infecting everyone, who accompanied the songs and dances with clapping, including participating in the dances.
At nightfall, they devoutly united in prayer to close the first day of the conference and to plan the mission of the following day.
Jesus sent forth his disciples…
Sunday dawned brightly. From her Shrine, the Blessed Mother saw her missionary disciples arrive willing to join in this great mission in the neighborhoods close to the Shrine.
After visiting their Mother, they formed a circle in front of the Shrine, with the Pilgrim MTAs in the middle. Holding hands, they prayed and were sent forth with a Pilgrim MTA for each group, with the slogan: “She is the great missionary, She will work miracles.”
Fathers Guillermo Cassone, Tomás D’elloca and Pastor Achával, Sister María del Pilar Carrêre, the youths, couples with their children, missionaries and mothers shared this mission knocking on the door of every home, dialoguing with those who welcomed them, leaving them with a message of hope, joy, a family prayer, and an invitation to visit the Shrine to receive the graces Mary grants at this place.
They returned tired, but happy for the mission accomplished and willing to receive the Eucharistic Jesus in the Holy Mass.
The fire should inflame our hearts, to inflame the world.
The famous Tucumán empanadas (pastry tarts) closed this fruitful conference.
Everyone departed for their own community with the firm commitment to enkindle the world with courage, love, commitment; living and giving covenant solidarity.
With the joy of being God’s favorite children and chosen by the Blessed Mother, the missionary disciples prepared to go out and encounter their brothers and sisters.
They all carried the certainty in their hearts that, during this Year of the Missionary Stream, on pilgrimage toward 2014, the Schoenstatt jubilee, they should be loyal to the motto of the year:
”With Mary, afire for the mission!
Spanish/English translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, Texas
