CHILE, Father Andrés Larraín. At the beginning of the pastoral year, the Archdiocese of Santiago surprised the Schoenstatt Movement when it decided to recognize it for its one hundred years of history and for the service it has rendered to the archdiocese.
Recognition of Schoenstatt at the beginning of the pastoral year of the Archdiocese of Santiago
The announcement of this recognition arrived with little notice, so an official delegation was organized to represent it. The delegation consisted of Father Eduardo Aguirre, National Director of the Movement; Carmen Rivera, the Movement’s National Secretary and the Archdiocese’s Schoenstatt representative in the area of the laity; Sergio Fernández and Paulina Fuentes, who also joined the archdiocese’s area of the laity representing Schoenstatt at the beginning of this year; Matiás Santelices, representing the Men’s Group; Sofia Cuevas representing the Women’s Group; Sister M. Consuelo, representing the Sisters of Mary and the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign; and Father Andrés Larraín, also participating in the area of the laity.
The Cross of Chile, inspired by the Unity Cross
At 9:00 a.m., the very well organized event began with a prayer. Then greetings were extended to the participants of the parish councils, movements and especially to the soon to be new auxiliary bishops, Fr. Fernando Ramos and Fr. Galo Fernández, who will be consecrated on May 10th, at the Cathedral of Santiago.
Before Cardinal Ricardo Ezzatti spoke to the assembly, the Church expressed its gratitude for the life that has been given and for the loyalty of its members. This gratitude was expressed with a gift for the eight religious from the different communities, three priests, who are celebrating their 50th Anniversary of consecrated life, and a couple, their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
After these expressions of gratitude, Father Héctor Gallardo said that the Church of Santiago wanted to manifest special recognition to a Movement that was celebrating its one hundred years of existence and the seventy-eighth year of its presence in Chile this year, and for the service it has given the Church. This recognition consisted of the presentation of the Cross of Chile. It was truly a very sensitive gesture of the Blessed Mother! The Cross of Chile is inspired by the Unity Cross: Christ on the Cross, the star symbolizes the Blessed Mother and the red ribbon, symbolizes the blood of Jesus.
At the service of the Church
Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz, Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago, presented the Cross to the delegation on behalf of the Church. Another reason to be touched, besides the fact that it was the first time a diocesan Church presented an award to the Schoenstatt Movement during the jubilee year was that it was also meaningful to discover so many Schoenstatters, who serve the Church of Santiago were among the participants: couples who work in parishes, Sisters of Mary, deacons, a delegation from the Marian School, the pastoral from Bellavista, priests and Bishop Manuel Camilo Vial.
How beautiful and what sensitivity the Blessed Mother showed with the Church in Santiago expressing gratitude and recognizing it with the symbol born of someone from the Family, and that is so close to the world that Schoenstatt wants to embody, live, and precisely present to the Church!
After expressions of gratitude, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzatti addressed the assembly. He spoke about several important events in the life of the Church during the last year: of all that has come from the election and the Pope’s worldwide impact of how he has shown the joy of the Gospel (the spontaneous applause of the assembly when his photo appeared on the screen was very beautiful); the naming of the new auxiliary bishops for the archdiocese and the summer schools centered on the preparation of missionaries for the territorial mission.
The Territorial Mission, the Schoenstatt mission
Then he spoke of the territorial mission, and just as the Pope’s Apostolic Exhortation – the Gospel of Joy – it was very beautiful how everything it says can be literally applied to Schoenstatt, if Schoenstatt is substituted every time that the Church or parish is mentioned, if covenant or jubilee year is said instead of territorial mission.
Some of the aspects that he stressed:
- The joy of mission and of being a missionary; the meaning of joy in discovering that the Lord of Life gives meaning to my life. This is what we want to share (Covenant of Love). It is a joy that gives trust and opens us to hope.
- Territorial Mission (Covenant or Jubilee Year): it is not to carry out actions, but rather, it is an existential experience. To experience the Lord in our life. The missionary task (mission consciousness) is a commandment that we cannot extinguish in the heart.
- For the territorial mission (Jubilee Year) it is necessary to live a missionary experience, a communal experience (of family), of Jesus present in the sacraments, in the tasks and in the community (Mary’s and Father Kentenich’s presence in the Shrine). What we announce is our life experience: an encounter with Jesus with his Word. No one gives what he/she does not have.
- At the same time, he stressed Schoenstatt’s presence with and in the existential and social peripheries. He concluded his presentation with two questions:
- All these thoughts and questions can enlighten the preparation for the celebration of Schoenstatt’s 100th Anniversary.
- The territorial mission (Jubilee Year) is an expression of a community that is not homogeneousness. Every local community (Shrine, community or branch) has a leading role and simultaneously, the gift of communion, the gift of being brothers/sisters.
- What is the Lord asking of me personally?
- What is the Lord asking of my Movement, community, parish?
Source: Vinculo, Magazine of the Schoenstatt Movement in Chile, April /2014
Original Spanish: Translation Celina M. Garza San Antonio, USA
