COSTA RICA, Gonzalo Vega, Michelle Ramírez, Maria Fischer •
Is it possible that there are still people who do not know about Central America’s first Schoenstatt Shrine blessing? It is possible… however there are fewer and fewer. Meanwhile the first guests are already traveling to Costa Rica, and greetings and congratulations continue pouring in via travelers, email, Facebook, and videos…
Fr. Guillermo Carmona, National Director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina, greets the Schoenstatt Family from Costa Rica with a video message, recalling his stay in the country in 2013, during the Ibero-American Schoenstatt Congress of Executives and Businessmen (CIEES). The Schoenstatt Movement from the Shrine of Attachment in Bamberg, Germany, sends their felicitations along with sunflower seeds as a sign of shared joy. On 18 March, during the Covenant Mass in their Shrine, they will pray the prayer written in Costa Rica for this moment of grace.
“We already have 1,700 confirmed participants, and we had to turn away others because of a lack of space according to the permits allowed by the authorities…” Gonzalo Vega commented. Among them, there are representatives from fourteen countries. The largest delegation will be from Nicaragua with twenty-five people, the second is Panama with nineteen people. Moreover there will be Schoenstatters from Germany, Argentina, Italy, Spain, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Chile, and Bolivia. Among them there are several Schoenstatt Fathers and Sisters, the leaders of the Family Federation, Rosa María and Josef Wieland, representatives of CIEES and schoenstatt.org will be present with two members of the base team.
Three days of celebration
Although the Schoenstatt Family from Costa Rica has already experienced an atmosphere of celebration for a long time, the blessing celebrations will be from 17- 19 March, beginning on Friday, the 17th with a Mass celebrated by Fr. José María García, from Madrid, and a Youth Vigil.
The blessing of the Shrine will be celebrated on Saturday, 18 March at 10:00 a.m., and on Sunday the 19th at 11:00 a.m., Fr. José Luis Correa, from Chile, will celebrate Mass.
United in prayer and capital of grace
People have asked where they can make their contributions to the Capital of Grace for this event.
“As of now, we are grateful for all the prayers and offerings for the physical and spiritual construction of this Shrine. We have received enormous gifts of different kinds,” the team of special guests commented.
In a few days, we will be present – be it physically, with greetings, with prayer or with capital of grace –with the Costa Rican Schoenstatt Family at this moment that has been desired for years.
We will be a family of solidarity and of celebration.
