mcb. Another “great” Mass in the early hours on Saturday morning! Various Schoenstatt Fathers from different countries who were attending a workshop on Mount Zion concelebrated the Eucharist in the Original Shrine’s weekly Mass “Towards 2014”: this week in Covenant with Nigeria. Father Javier Artega, Director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina was the celebrant. Since September 15th, Nigeria now belongs to “his” region. But he also celebrated the Holy Mass in unity with the Schoenstatt Family in Mar del Plata as they celebrated the Silver Anniversary of its Shrine this past weekend.
At the beginning of the Mass, Father Arteaga related that already for some years Nigeria is a place on the map of the Covenant of Love. The Victory Shrine is there, and there the Schoenstatt Fathers (already more natives than foreigners) work. The Rosary Campaign has been present in many parts of the country, and gradually – supported by the young missionaries of the Men`s Youth of de Campanario, Chile – a strong Movement is rising there. Father Artega also related that just a few days ago he read the good news that the first group of the Mother’s Branch had sealed their Covenant of Love.
Special prayers were also offered for Father Jonathan Niehaus, who is seriously ill. The many prayers that are elevated allover the world for him and by the Family show, perhaps more clearly than many programs, that Schoenstatt is, deeply within what it more and more wants to become on the road toward 2014: a family.
Being family: asking for blessings for each other
As always at the beginning of the Holy Mass, the personal intentions- coming from the USA, Zimbabwe, Scotland, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, England, and Chile – were placed in the jar. Among the prayer intentions was that of parents whose daughter had been kidnapped … The intentions of the entire International Schoenstatt Family were also in the jar: for the Schoenstatt Family in Nigeria, for the Silver Anniversary of the Shrine in Mar del Plata, for the celebrations of the Shrines in Olinda, Recife, and New Schoenstatt Argentina; for the October 18 novena, and for all the preparations for this day of the opening year of the Shrine current; for the walking pilgrimage of 90 km from the chapel in Hasenkamp up to the Shrine of La Loma (Argentina) on next Friday and Saturday… Some of these requests were mentioned in the prayers of the faithful, everything fell into the hands of the Mother with the prayer for many blessings, especially for Nigeria.
A Covenant that expands horizons and hearts
On Saturday – the last one in the year of the Father current – Mass ‘towards 2014’ will be in covenant with North Korea. Yes, North Korea. The Covenant of Love lives hidden somewhere in a country that horribly persecutes Christians. This international pilgrimage, from country to country, expands horizons and enlarges hearts … When ‘Your covenant, our mission’ can cost you your life, it changes priorities- our own ones.
Video of the Mass in partnership with Nigeria (Schoenstatt-TV)
Translation: Melissa Janknegt, Elgin, USA
