We Begin Our Pilgrimage as a Family

Pilar Escudero de Jensen/mkf. “It was the greatest Schoenstatt experience, the most essential, and the simplest one I have ever experienced around the Original Shrine,” commented (on the following day) a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary who was participating in the general chapter of her community. Several weeks ago, a Schoenstatt Father mentioned – as something somewhat characteristic of his experience with the missions in Erlenback, Germany – “the radiance in the eyes of the missionaries.” This evening of October 17th, by the light of one hundred torches, this same radiance could be seen in the eyes of hundreds of Schoenstatters who encircled the Original Shrine. The triennium in preparation for 2014 has begun, and with it, a time of grace. It is a time in which the eyes radiate on thinking of the Covenant of Love, infallible indication of the presence of life currents.

We Begin Our Pilgrimage as a Family

The harmony of covenant between 2014 and the missionary youths is evident and not only in the presence of the yellow t-shirts indicating the missions. “We are living an historical hour,” says a youth. An hour of grace. It is an experience via the Internet, direct and truthful. The barriers crumble, the 2014 current floods Schoenstatt. “I saw Blessed Mother in the Shrine,” commented a German missionary, “Her eyes were radiant.”

There were many preparations for Sunday the 17th…..countless details considered lovingly so that this would be an experience which would highlight the beginning of the Triennium leading toward 2014! To coordinate many people, teams, review the script for the ceremony, solve the unexpected…..all was done as a team and definitely placed in the hands of the Blessed Mother: it was our gift to Her and to our Father on the eve of October 18th. It was also a gift for all of us; it was the experience of the Schoenstatt Family united internationally through the means at our reach.

The music of the young missionaries marked the climate with their joy and enthusiasm

The Adoration Church was radiant. The lights warmed the atmosphere of a very cold night (but less cold than predicted, and in spite of the torrential rains of the previous days, there was not one raindrop). The music of the young missionaries marked the climate with joy and enthusiasm. Many of them traveled – only to be there for that one night – up to 7 and 8 hours, and they have to return on the last train at midnight. Some 15 German youths wearing their mission t-shirts, Manuel López Naón, Alejandra Coelho from Portugal, become one voice singing of the joy in the Covenant of Love.

“The day we so longed for – and with many: on this evening the triennium toward 2014 is officially opened,” say the guides Tobías Haas, Luis Fontes and Diego Cienfuegos in various languages. Those present greet with resounding applause the representatives of more than thirty countries who are in the Adoration Church and those connected by Internet as one family.

The way toward 2014 began when in the heart of some Schoenstatter emerged the desire to celebrate the centennial of Schoenstatt in 2014. Father Kentenich is already on the way toward 2014: he walks in us, he invites us to prepare ourselves to take the fire of the Covenant to the Church and to the world.

We make his mission our own

The motivating video and the brief presentation by Sr. M. Luciane Machens and Fr. José María García on the meaning of the triennium, prepare the scene for the great symbol of this evening: the fire, the torches. One torch is lit from the candle which burns at the tomb of Father Kentenich. Fr. José María blesses the fire and immediately the youths take the Auxiliary Image and the unlit torches and begin the pilgrimage from the tomb of Father Kentenich toward the Original Shrine. He asks us today that we place ourselves on the way as grateful pilgrims who will receive the grace of 2014 so they may give it – in covenant – to the universal Church.

We begin the journey like the sodalists

All pass by the tomb where the Symbol of the Father which contains the love and surrender of the communities and Schoenstatt Families already visited.

We begin the journey like the sodalists: with the Father and Founder who wants to be in us Founder of Schoenstatt in this new century of the Covenant of Love. We believe in him and in his charisma and, therefore, we begin the journey as one Family in which he is alive and is active. As missionary Family, we make a pilgrimage to the Original Shrine to take our Covenant of Love to the world of work…..of politics…..of the family…..of the youth…..of the Church…..of education…..creating a culture of the Covenant. We make his mission our own: the covenant for the entire world. They await us.

On pilgrimage in the light of the shaping force of the Covenant of Love

There are many more participants than had been calculated; therefore, it takes more time until everyone has passed by Father’s tomb and until they gather outside the church to begin the pilgrimage. The megaphone did not work and one can hardly hear the songs and the praying of the Rosary in different languages….. On the way toward the Original Shrine, the procession passes by stations which show the light of the mission, the shaping force of the Covenant of Love summarized in a person, in an apostolic action, in one house, in one community. At each station – put together with a great deal of creativity – there were two or three youths who at the moment the pilgrims arrived, they lit three, four, five torches, giving them to the pilgrims as they passed by. With that gesture – the torches lit at each station – the currents of life and grace symbolized in them were united to the great pilgrimage current toward 2014.

With a growing number of torches

The long file advances from station to station, with a growing number of torches in the hands of the pilgrims….. “I do not care if I cannot hear anything,” commented an older German lady. “I could not help but be enchanted with all the richness which was manifested along the way, and especially by the radiant faces of the youth who lit the torches. When I was finally given a torch, I felt something in my heart like at that moment, many years ago, in which I sealed my Covenant of Love….. My tears poured forth with so much emotion.”

The greatest station, nevertheless, was the House of the Covenant, radiant with a spectacular light. That same night of the opening of the international triennium, this house, the cradle of the Schoenstatt Work, had been given in restitution. It illuminated the entire valley…

The column of pilgrims – now with 96 lighted torches – arrived at the Original Shrine.

They will bring you treasures from across the sea and you will receive the riches of the nations

The bells from the Shrines in the valley began to peal….. The bell from the Original Shrine also rang. Large candles were lit around the tombs of the heroes and in front of the Original Shrine….. The youths with torches in their hands arrived running….. The Original Shrine began to shine, each time more, while the pilgrims encircled it and the choir of the missionaries began to sing….. In the hands of two female Filipino youths, accompanied by the International Presidency, the Symbol of the Father entered.

Rise up in splendor! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance… Fr. José María and Sr. Luciane praying in Spanish and German. Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, For the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, The wealth of nations shall be brought to you. Your gates shall stand open constantly; day and night they shall not be closed. But shall admit to you the wealth of nations, And their kings in the vanguard. (Isaiah 60, 1,3,5 and 11)

One of the female youths opens the door of the Original Shrine, the International Presidency enters…

Your doors will always be open, they will not be closed by day or night, To receive the wealth of the nations which the kings will bring you.

This is the moment. The communities go toward the light which shines in the Original Shrine, and they begin to bring their riches from all the corners of the earth. Thousands of Schoenstatters are experiencing the moment via the Internet, and those present witness it on the giant screen. They see Father Heinrich Walter speaking in the Original Shrine, declaring the opening of the triennium.

Take these torches and take them to the world!

After Father Heinrich Walter’s presentation, the jubilee logo and motto are officially presented: Your Covenant, Our Mission. “Father, your Covenant, our mission…..”sing the missionaries, changing a bit the refrain of the well known song in Spanish, and they also know how to sing it in German. Songs, paragraphs from the Founding Document, moments with few words, moments marked by the fire, the torches, the light, and a profound spiritual absorption. For the first time, the pilgrimage prayer is recited, a very simple prayer very much in harmony with the entire pilgrim church.

Everything seems to have ended, but at this moment, the youths take the microphone:

“We have brought one hundred torches – 96 of them lit in gratitude for the 96 years of the Covenant of Love, in gratitude also for all the fruitfulness of the Covenants of Love sealed in so many countries of the world. Here are the last four torches. We, as representatives of the young generations who take this Covenant of Love to Schoenstatt’s second centennial, petition you, the entire Schoenstatt Family in the world: Accompany us!” In French, in English, in German, in Spanish they continue” “Take these torches and take them to the world! And bring them anew to Schoenstatt, accompanying many people on the 18th of October 2014! Take the torch of the Father current, the torch of the Shrine current, the torch of the missionary current, the torch of Covenant 2014!”

They light the torches and march with them, two by two, like in the missions, and give them to the other participants…

All renew the Covenant of Love. The Most Reverend Robert Zollitsch gives the blessing from the Original Shrine and with the hymn of the Family, the opening culminates…..and this time of grace which will take us to October 18, 2014, to the Original Shrine and to Rome begins.

“Cuando la alegría llega desde arriba, no existen las fronteras, ¡solo hay que compartirla! ¡Tu Alianza nuestra Misión! ¡Hacia el 2014!”

“Your Covenant, our mission.”