USA, Angie Santos. The Father Symbol, which promotes unity within the Schoenstatt Family in preparation for the Jubilee Year 2014, visited Houston, Texas during Thanksgiving week.
The last week of November is a very special week in the United States, there is a festive and happy atmosphere everywhere. This week of the year is one in which great importance is placed on the family; many travel great distance to gather with their relatives to spend time by sharing a meal and sitting at the table together on Thanksgiving Day.
It was precisely during this week when the Father Symbol visited the small Schoenstatt Family in Houston. The Father Symbol had been in Texas for more than a month traveling in the dioceses of Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Brownsville, etc. And just before it was to be sent to the Shrine in Lamar to depart for Puerto Rico, it passed through this city where the Schoenstatt Family is still very small.
How should we welcome such a special visit?
Some worried. They knew that this visit was a very important event, but how could it be organized properly during these very busy days? Divine Providence made sure that it was welcomed with the appropriate honor, and that this sacramental would bless many people, even those who had never heard about Schoenstatt or Father Kentenich.
Initially on November 24th, the Father Symbol visited the beautiful home shrine of Mary Abbot, a diocesan leader in the Movement, where there was a moment of prayer and those who were present could pray individually before it.
“We are a very small Family that is just starting out. We don’t have our own home in which to welcome you, but we seen have the work of you, our Mother Mary, and we have the desire to build you a Throne of Grace, a Shrine in this beautiful city. We want to use this time of grace to conquer this during the preparation time for the 100th Covenant Jubilee in 2014. We ask you for the graces that we need to grow to become more committed to your Schoenstatt mission. This visit to our land, crucible of nationalities, of generous hearts, occurs during Thanksgiving week, and for this we are very grateful.”
Special guest at the Solemn Liturgies
Then, the Father Symbol was the special guest at a weekly prayer and adoration time organized by Father Vicente Agila at Saint Cecilia’s Parish for Spanish speaking people. In spite of being the eve of a holiday, many people came, and the Father Symbol occupied a place of honor in front of the altar. Father Vicente, an Ecuadorian, is very attached to the Guayaquil Shrine; he a very good friend of the Sisters of Mary in that city, and he is a great supporter of the Schoenstatt Family in Houston. He celebrates the Covenant Mass every 18th at Saint Cecilia’s Parish, and he supports every initiative.
In his introduction, he introduced the Father Symbol to everyone as a great gift. He gave it great importance as being a symbol that was in Father Kentenich’s hands, he said: “It is like when a mother caresses her children, it is like the visible motherly expression of a father. Christians have a dream and one of the Father Kentenich’s dream was the dream of unity, it is the dream of Jesus, as the Gospel of Saint John says, “May we all be like You, and may we all be one”. I give thanks for having this sign with so many years of history [visit us], since the 100th Anniversary of the God’s love for Father Kentenich and his Family will be celebrated in 2014.”
After a time of prayer and adoration, Rosa Elena asked him to say a little more about this symbol, and at the end, he invited everyone to pray and venerate the Father Symbol. A line formed, and those who attended, some Schoenstatters, and many who had never heard about Schoenstatt, came reverently to touch the Symbol, to pray, and to take photos with it.
The following day, the Father Symbol was also an important part of the Holy Mass that Father Vicente celebrates every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. to pray for priests and for priestly vocations. During this Mass, the Schoenstatt Pilgrim MTA is given to ten families that will take her to their homes during that week. Since it was Thanksgiving, Father had encouraged many people to come to Mass, and there were more people than attend Sunday Mass! In the entrance procession, the Father Symbol was solemnly carried, along with the Schoenstatt banner from Houston brought by the Caylor Family. During the homily, Father presented a beautiful reflection about this Symbol, about God the Father who looks at us, who always takes care of us, and he recalled how he discovered his vocation at the age of eighteen in the Shrine of Guayaquil before this Symbol representing God the Father.
After Holy Mass, something very touching happened, instead of leaving quickly as usual, the majority of those who attended formed a long line in front of the Father Symbol to venerate it with great devotion and love.
During the following day, the Father Symbol received visits in Rosa Elena’s Home Shrine, and it also visited some other meetings held by the members of the Movement.
Among the testimonies that were gathered, one that caused a the great impression was to see people marvel at the Father Symbol, even without knowing anything about Schoenstatt, and how the Father Symbol helped to create a supernatural atmosphere of reflection and prayer. All of this is proof of the strength of this sacramental, and that the graces it has gathered throughout the years can be felt.
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio/Melissa Janknegt, Elgin, USA
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Photoalbum: Visit to Houston
