Agathe Hug. “Where is New Caledonia? I don’t know either. I looked it up on schoenstatt.org.” This was a conversation overheard perhaps in front of the Original Shrine after the Holy Mass in covenant with New Caledonia. It could not be affirmed that there would be a multitude in the Original Shrine. As it happens every year after the celebration of October 18th, many people are traveling to their respective dioceses after participating in October Week. And there are no large pilgrimages to Schoenstatt at this time.
However, even when the group of faithful was small, the prayer was no less intense for all the petitions that were sent to the Original Shrine during the past week. The news that arrived from La Plata the night before was also included in the Holy Mass: we prayed for the large group of students from the Estrada School that is run by Schoenstatters, who were celebrating the end of their course at a local place, where the railing of the mezzanine gave way, and they fell to the bottom floor – some of the students were injured-fortunately not seriously – we prayed for those who gave them aid, for their families, and for the leaders of the school. Everything was placed in the jar, even the prayers for the future of the Covenant of Love in New Caledonia.
Hope
The ladies of the Institute of Our Lady of Schoenstatt were in charge of the musical accompaniment, and they proposed “Mary, Mother of Holy Hope” as the theme for the Mass.
The Holy Virgin has been venerated with this title in the Dominican Monastery of Zoffingen, in Constanza, Germany since October 24, 1654. The picture is an exact replica as the one from Altötting. The veneration of the Mother of Holy Hope and trust in Her were great; the record of answered prayers in the Book of miracles” demonstrates this. (“Mirakelbuch”, archive of Zoffingen was brought to modern Germany by Sister Witgard Erler OSF, May 2004). Since 1865 as a result of the pilgrimages to Zoffingen and of the answered prayers by the Mother of Holy Hope, it was reported that the custom of celebrating the month of Mary – in May – a practice since the end of the 19th century and during the 20th century extended from Bavaria to all of Germany.
Mother of Holy Hope… All the hope, all the confidence was offered in the renewal of the Covenant of Love at the end of the Holy Mass.
Next Saturday, the first of the month of November, the Holy Mass with…. will again be transmitted live through schoenstatt-tv. We will have to travel mentally to New Zealand!
Video
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation – Melissa Peña-Janknegt: English edit
