COSTA RICA, Sergio Sánchez •
The Covenant of Love with Mary is Schoenstatt’s original way of living the baptismal covenant. It expresses and guarantees our covenant with the Blessed Trinity. Understood in this way, it is “the source of vitality and the center of Schoenstatt’s spirituality”, the heart of Schoenstatt. And today, especially in the Family of Hope Shrine, this vitality could be experienced. —
From very early in the morning, monitors and members of the Pastoral groups of the Shrine worked on all the details for the great celebration; a celebration to which our beloved Mother and more than 100 people were invited.
They were arriving dressed in white for the most awaited moment of a whole year of formation. What a long-awaited day in their hearts, wherever you looked there was a Covenant of Love day. One group was from the Diocese of Alajuela, another from the Diocese of Ciudad Quesada (San Carlos), another from the recently created Zone of Heredia in the Archdiocese of San José; the other groups were from San José. Some couples are Honduran (San Pedro Sula), but living in Costa Rica; also, a couple currently living in Panama (she from Burundi), a couple from the diocese of Puntarenas. A couple of them are from groups of the Young Couples Project.
Like those sodalists in the small shrine in the valley of Vallendar
Father José Luis, adviser of the Schoenstatt Movement of Costa Rica, reminded us during the rite, how the first sodalists who sealed their Covenant of Love 108 years ago with the Blessed Mother, did it in a small shrine, exactly like the one that welcomed them today in Santa Ana, San José, Costa Rica.
It was a beautiful moment for all these couples who, one by one, passed in front of the Blessed Mother and confirmed this Covenant along with Father José Luis. The “we remain in this, we remain faithful…” was repeated over and over again. She was there with her loving gaze, she was there receiving their hearts and giving hers. That is the love of a mother who gives herself completely for her children. Today was a day to confirm that this covenant with Her will lead us throughout our lives to a daily exchange of hearts, goods, and interests.
A covenant for our whole life
Today the Family of Hope shrine was dressed in white; today our beloved place of grace witnessed how many couples confirmed their love for the Blessed Mother and the commitment to continue being a Movement that will continue transforming the Church, we are a Schoenstatt that is going out and today all of us who shared this moment confirmed it, to go out to conquer more hearts for her, and today was the day that their hearts were conquered.
With a rosary and the Holy Eucharist, we closed a day filled with love. We all sealed our Covenant of Love with the Blessed Virgin Mary and we prayed with our hearts that she would lead us to a Covenant with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
With a grateful heart and with the firm conviction that living this covenant of love entirely will lead us to a life of holiness, we leave the place of grace, not only with a medal on our chest, but with a covenant for our whole life.
