mkf. “I belong to the Schoenstatt Movement in Esquipulas, Guatemala, and with much joy, I have received the news about the Mass tomorrow. I would like to know which webpage I can access to see the Mass on the Internet.” This email is from Vinicio Yus from Guatemala and it is addressed to Manuel Montero and Marianella Coto, coordinators of the Schoenstatt Movement in Costa Rica. They had sent a notice to all their contacts in Central America announcing the Mass….. “Toward 2014” in Covenant with Guatemala. They were inviting everyone to participate via Internet in this Mass to be celebrated in the Original Shrine at 11:15 PM on the evening of February 4th – local time in Central America.
It was a cold morning with a slight touch of Spring on February 5th – with the chirping of birds – and the Original Shrine filled with some 15 youths from Chile and Ecuador, Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary from Argentina, Ecuador, Scotland and Germany and various “inhabitants” of the place. Father Peter Locher gave the welcome in German and Spanish, greeting all the Guatemalans and all the members of the Schoenstatt Family who were following the live transmission of this Holy Mass in the Original Shrine. During the Mass, families from Guatemala communicated via the schoenstatt-tv chat, only to express their feelings at being virtually in the Original Shrine! “It was beautiful to be at the Eucharist for Guatemala in the Original Shrine on screen.! Although it was a bit late for us, it was worthwhile,” comments Marianella Coto the following day.
Connected to the country of the Eternal Spring
Guatemala, a small country in Central America, in the extreme northwest, the “Country of the Eternal Spring,” has some family groups in Guatemala City and in Esquipulas, the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign of the Pilgrim Virgin – with their own Auxiliary Shrine – and a Schoenstatt school.
The youth from “Schoenstatt Time” sang and read the readings in Spanish. After the usual petitions for the preparation for 2014, petitions sent especially for this Mass were prayed:
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With the brothers and sisters of Guatemala and all Central America, we pray for Schoenstatt vocations in all Central America, especially at this time in which the Latin American Congress for Vocations is taking place with the presence of Fr. Sidney Fones and many other Central American priests, Spaniards and the rest of the continent. – with Mary, we pray to the Lord…
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We pray that our Blessed Mother would grant us a Shrine in Central America during this Triennium toward 2014…..we pray to the Lord.
Together they all prayed the prayer for the 2014 Pilgrimage – alternating between Spanish and German – thinking especially about the Schoenstatt Family in Guatemala and in the other budding Schoenstatt Families in Central American countries like Panama, Honduras (Mass on February 26th), Nicaragua, Belice, El Salvador…
Breakfast 2014
After Mass, all were invited for breakfast in House Marienau to share the lastest information on the Schoenstatt Family’s journey toward 2014.
Next Saturday, the Mass in Covenant with Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry will be celebrated.
Video of the Mass in Covenant with Guatemala
Translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA 02102011
