PARAGUAY, by José and Sonia Zaracho •
Fulfilling her promise made the previous year, a great person again visited us. She brought us more knowledge about Fr. Joseph Kentenich. When we went to welcome her at Posadas, Argentina Airport, we asked her why she came to Paraguay through this city since she could have arrived at Asunción’s Silvio Pettirossi Airport. She confidently and spontaneously answered: “To once again see the place where Fr. Kentenich looked at Paraguay.” Fr. Kentenich had looked at Paraguay from Puerto of Posadas, and he looked at it silently for several minutes with his eyes as blue as the sky, just as he had looked at her during her childhood.
Fr. Kentenich’s wonderful daughter, as we call Maria Fischer, is loyal to her mission. As she crosses the international bridge reaching Paraguay, it brings back pleasant memories of the previous year, and we as went towards the Center, she never stopped observing “the place” of Father’s gaze.
The first stop on Paraguayan soil was for “greeting my mother” as she called it. So we stopped at “Blessed Mother’s Little House,” and then we continued to the Center for refreshments and a simple dinner, but one that was filled with enthusiasm and much joy.
Father and Prophet. Center of attachments
She did not come for vacation or even to rest. She came to share one of her passions with us: teaching us more about Fr. Kentenich.
We had planned this event in advance, and because of a change of weather, it was held at Bethany Hall, which is very dear to our hearts, and where the initial topic: “Father and Prophet” was presented on time to a full house. Center of attachments, and as she proceeded with her speech, there was profound silence and deep concentration on the part of the participants, all of whom are members of the different groups of the Schoenstatt Work at Encarnación.
The following day, Maria presented a similar lecture on the subject at Colonias Unidas, at Holy Spirit Parish in Hohenau, with a unique factor that the attending couples’ children accompany them as a family, just as Fr. Kentenich enjoyed. Once this presentation was finished, all the participants shared a picnic lunch.
It was the perfect opportunity to approach Maria Fischer, who could not evade the participants’ different questions, which she also expected: a one on one contact with everyone who attended, responding to all the inquiries.
Talk at Encarnación
A real celebration
It was a real celebration, a perfect teaching, as we told Maria, only our beloved Maria can do things so well, since rain had been forecast, and it did not happen. At the end of every event, Maria ended with “All of us should be a Kentenich,” to carry out attachments from the family to a group, society and the nation continuing on the good path, seeking everyday sanctity.
This beautiful visit remained imprinted on our retinas; we had eagerly awaited this visit. Perhaps it was the gaze of a playful little girl and an educator that we sought, and about the event during her childhood she related to us when she captured Fr. Kentenich’s gaze. She is Maria Fischer– the awaited visitor.
