CHILE, Sister M. Ivonne Latsague Vidal. For those who are close to a shrine, for those who belong to the different Branches of the Movement, for those who perhaps have grown with Schoenstatt, it is easy to understand and to celebrate the 100 years of grace that we are living. But how does this Jubilee resonate for a pilgrim from the countryside, or for someone who has never visited a shrine, or the one who just learned about a wayside shrine?
The missionaries of Cabrero
… They know the shrine. For them, it is a challenge to offer the covenant of love to their neighbors, and they have pledged to invite the man who sells newspapers in the corner kiosk, the store owners, their spouses and their children. Knowing that the pilgrim is a child of the Blessed Mother in the first place, they are open to the invitation. And although we are “brothers/sisters in the covenant”, they do not necessarily have to belong to a group, or be missionaries of the Pilgrim MTA. Once a year, it is their obligation as a child to visit their Mother in the Shrine, alone or with their families, to renew this pact of love… With time, they will increase the visits, and they will accept other challenges… The missionaries are committed to this crusade, because it is their Jubilee gift for the Blessed Mother.
In Coronel
… It is difficult to raise money, for the simple daily economy of the family. So, when they want to carry out an extra activity they have to be creative in finding resources. For this, they fry sopaipillas and picarones (puffy bread and fritters), they knead bread, and they have raffles to gather money to go on pilgrimage in Father Kentenich’s footsteps to the Shrine in Temuco. Their goal is to go to three shrines during the year, asking for the plenary indulgence and this one is the second one. The first one was the Los Angeles Shrine and the third one will be Montahue, in Concepción, for the Jubilee. It is their way of celebrating this centenary.
In Linares
… The secretary of the PDI (Police of Investigations of Chile), who just sealed her covenant, gives her all joy and truth in the midst of her hostile work. The Prefect, meanwhile, has authorized the pilgrimage of an auxiliary shrine of the Schoenstatt Pilgrim MTA within the institution.
In this city, a group of elderly folks (ages 78, 82, and 94) make rosaries daily and as they are stringing the beads, they are praying. The missionary, who provides the material, suggests the petitions and now they pray so that many pilgrims, like them, can seal their covenant with the Blessed Mother and someday visit the shrine. Then, these rosaries are given to the bishop for his apostolate.
In Retiro
The rural missionary does not fear the cold, or the rain, because she knows that by taking the monthly leaflet of the Campaign, she is informing her people of what is happening during this year in Schoenstatt, although they cannot even pronounce the word, and they have never visited a shrine; but they know that the Pilgrim MTA that visits them brings the graces of this holy place. They believe what they read and they attach themselves spiritually to everything that the missionary motivates them to do.
In Longaví
The missionary bravely faces the neighbors in her town where 99% are evangelicals. She walks through the streets with the Pilgrim MTA facing forward, and they greet her with respect. When they ask her for the picture, she invites them to seal the Covenant with the Blessed Mother, because that was her Jubilee commitment.
In Coelemu
The missionaries almost have already covered the entire city, and now they begin to mission in the countryside. The people who were not visited in the city are evangelicals; however, some families have been visited because the children like the picture. One mother was in a bind because her little boy was very happy with the Little Virgin and the Child Jesus, but her husband was an evangelical pastor, so she had to end her son’s joy to keep peace in the family… But undoubtedly, the great Missionary has already worked some miracle in this home.
In Chillán
What can a Jubilee of this kind mean to men, who are deprived of their freedom because of different crimes? However through their preparation for their covenant of love, the sixteen inmates learned about Father Kentenich, who was in jail, a concentration camp, and nevertheless, he was free interiorly. They understood that once they receive the grace, the Covenant will help them to first, reach an inner freedom of God’s children and to face life in another way. In this case, it is the missionaries of the penitentiary pastoral, who offer God this Jubilee gift.
In San Fernando
An ill patient with terminal pancreatic cancer only desired to seal her covenant of love before dying since she wanted to contribute to the Jubilee gift of the missionary who prepared her. She could not go to the shrine, so I took it to her bedside. I wrote her personal information to take it to the Covenant Book at the Shrine, and if someday she goes there, she will be able to sign it. However, I encouraged her that the Blessed Mother has already accepted her heart in this covenant, and from this place, I spiritually consecrated her to the Blessed Mother in her Little Shrine.
Blessed are you Virgin Mary, who believed the Lord’s announcements! Blessed be every pilgrim who has attached his desire of God in the picture of the Pilgrim MTA and believes in the graces that she brings in every visit, because they will obtain mercy! And may the blessing that will flow in a special way on the 18th of October from the torrent of graces of the Original Shrine be spread throughout all the corners of the world to every place where the Blessed Mother has established herself working miracles of grace.
In every daughter, home, work, heart shrine and places perhaps we cannot even humanly imagine, God, who penetrates everything in his unfathomable power and kindness, will embrace even the innermost part of the heart, the world, the human soul and in the covenant of love with his Mother, we will return to the eternal homeland, our definitive shrine.
Original: Spanish – Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA
The work of these simple missionaries brought tears to my eyes. 10,000 people were at the heart of Schoenstatt during this last week and many thousands more were gathered at their local shrines. We renewed our Covenant of Love and our commitment for the next 100 years. And it was beautiful.
But just as beautiful is the work of these anonymous people. They know that Schoenstatt is a strange word in the communities that they take the Blessed Mother. And that doesn’t matter. What matters is the simple task of bringing the Mother of God and her Son into the homes of the most forgotten and isolated people in our society. And they welcome her. Is that not just as beautiful (or even more so) than our carefully crafted words and extraordinary celebrations?
This is perhaps the harder path. To remain faithful at the peripheries. And perhaps their work is the most meaningful. Those of use who are fortunate enough to be at the centre MUST help them in their task….even if all we can do is bring our daily contributions to the shrine so that the streams of love and grace can flow into every hidden crevice that is open to the power of God’s love.