BRAZIL, Pauline Almeida. The excitement and expectation were great on the evening of 18 July. It wasn’t a “normal” Covenant Day like all the others, but the start of “Cor Unum”, the international meeting of Schoenstatt Girls and Young Women. A few minutes before the start, Isabel Ubierna, 15, from Argentina, said she was hoping to grow in love for Mary and Schoenstatt, and to become “one heart in our Father” with the youth of the whole world.
Betania Portillo, 16, had also come with more than a hundred young women from Paraguay to seek this unity. Besides this, she said, she was curious to get to know other cultures and to experience how the girls and young women from the various countries would introduce themselves. Susana, the only girl from Peru at “Cor Unum”, was “adopted” by the delegation from Paraguay, and said she didn’t feel alone, because in Schoenstatt you always experienced that you were part of a Family.
While she waited for the opening of Cor Unum, Isabel Pires, 18, from Brazil, said that she wanted to get to know many young women and to leave the World Youth Day renewed. More than 900 young women had come with great hopes and expectations to the Pilgrims’ Tent in Atibaia near the Shrine of the Perpetual Presence of the Father for the opening of their international meeting.
Cor Unum begins!
Young women from Germany, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Scotland, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, USA, Peru and Brazil were there. Atibaia, a town in Sao Paulo province, was the host. As the first shrine to be dedicated after Fr Kentenich’s death, this one bears the name “The Tabor of the Perpetual Presence of the Father”.
The young women thanked for the gift of the Original Shrine and said that everything they had invested as a Branch in the capital of grace as they sought for their mission to be one in our Father’s heart, was also the cause for this gift. The young women in Schoenstatt know that their work has not come to an end, and that they have the great task to realize the ideal of being a “little replica of Mary”, especially in this time before the jubilee of the covenant of love.
The participants at the meeting got to know more about Brazil, the hosts of the worldwide meeting. As Vila Lobos, the great Brazilian musician, put it: “Brazil is shaped like a heart”, so it welcomes visitors from other countries with great joy and warmth.
Typical Brazilian dances, such as the Gauchas from the South, the Frevo and Forro from the North East, and of course the Samba, lit up the opening of the meeting. The Atibaia brass band, which twice won the brass band World Cup, accompanied the start of the meeting – a gift of the hosts of the Cor Unum. The opening words of welcome included a message from the President of the Brazilian Bishops’ Conference, Raymundo Damasceno:
“May you experience real community in these days, living with and in one another in true unity, one of the signs of Christianity. Just as Jesus said, ‘That all may be one, as I am in you, and you in me, Father, may they be one.”
Welcome
The Provincial Superior of the Sisters of Mary, Sr M. Ane Gonçalves, greeted the youth from all over the world. The Secular Institute of the Sisters of Mary had prepared the entire infrastructure for this meeting, and Sr Ane was obviously very happy to see so many girls with high ideals.
She hoped, she said, that the participants would discover the mission Fr Kentenich had given to girls and young women, and that many fruits would mature at this meeting. The Mayor of Atibaia, Saulo Pedroso de Souza, pointed out that Atibaia was a town noted for its hospitality, which welcomed the participants with quality, and wanted to place their entire infrastructure at their service.
The opening came to an end when all sang the Cor Unum hymn accompanied by a band of young people from a number of Brazilian towns. Anita Ebenawer, 23, from Austria was most impressed by the first part. Although she came from a country with a completely different culture, she had really like the music and was positively surprised by the size of the grounds and the gardens around the Shrine of the Perpetual Presence of the Father – a shrine that is visited every Sunday by a few thousand pilgrims.
Holy Mass
The Holy Mass opening the meeting was celebrated by the diocesan bishop, Bragança Paulista. To start with he reminded the youth of the message of 2014, which emphasises that the “essential core of our Family is the covenant of love with Mary”, the renewal of an exchange of hearts with her.
The young women even received a message from Mary. It was based on the Founding Document, “This daring idea has now become yours. I confidently place the next hundred years in your hands. May future generations pass judgement on it. I love those who love me. First prove that you really love me. I require this sanctification of you.”
Sent out on their mission
The first day of the meeting ended with Benediction and sending out the young people to the families in the neighbourhood where they would be staying. The second day of the meeting was devoted to workshops on the subjects of purity, nobility and faithfulness. Holy Mass and talks followed.
Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England
More photos (fonte: www.maeperegrina.org.br)
How amazing and inspiring!!I can feel the presence of our MTA across the world. Wish I were there!!