org. Schoenstatt.org would like to give its readers an insight into an import aspect of the work of Team 2014, as well as the person behind it: the work on the common symbols and identity signs that are becoming increasingly important for the pilgrimage of the worldwide Schoenstatt Family to 2014.
The Holy Masses in the Original Shrine “on the way to 2014” increasingly connect our worldwide Schoenstatt Family, uniting it more strongly from country to country. How did this idea originate?
The Team is convinced that we can only bring about a good preparation and celebration of the Jubilee Celebrations in 2014 with the help of our heavenly Covenant Partner. Where could the graces we need flow more richly than in the Original Shrine? We say: Nothing without You – Nothing without Us!
Through the celebration of Holy Mass “in the covenant with …” on Saturday at 7.15 a.m. we want to send out a signal to every individual Schoenstatt member throughout the world: You are eagerly awaited at the Original Shrine! We are looking forward to your coming! So each week the corresponding flag of that country is in the Original Shrine on the right hand corner cupboard.
Everyone who enters the shrine is invited to pray for this country and its people.
Indeed, the Holy Masses have become something like a spiritual pilgrimage from continent to continent, from country to country. We criss-cross the world as we visit the countries alphabetically.
Connected with this is the invitation to get to know the country concerned: to discover the covenant of love and the work of the Blessed Mother and our Founder, Fr Kentenich, in this specific country.
I am convinced that the Holy Mass “in the covenant with …” makes us, as an international Family, more sensitive to the joys and sufferings of the people in that country. I am thinking, for example, of the earthquake in Chile. An amazing coincidence took place when Holy Mass began at 7.15 a.m. with the young people –among them some from Chile. One of the strings of a guitar broke at precisely the moment when the earthquake struck Chile.
We aren’t indifferent to the people in the areas of catastrophe throughout the world. We consciously place them under the wonderful protection of our Mother Thrice Admirable. It gives us great joy when we experience that initiatives are spontaneously started on every continent to go to help.
Have you already considered how things will go on when the last country, Zimbabwe, will have its turn in September 2012?
The last Holy Mass for the countries where Schoenstatt is represented will take place on 15 September 2012. That is the day on which our Founder, Fr Joseph Kentenich, died.
How are we going to continue? I often think of what could be done.
My idea is that after the countries we could invite the individual communities belonging to the Schoenstatt Family to take a spiritual pilgrimage. For a week they would be present in a special way for a spiritual audience with the Blessed Mother in the Original Shrine as representatives of the whole Schoenstatt Family.
However, I could also imagine that each community could reserve a Saturday for themselves in the period from 22 September to 2 March 2013.
If each community or grouping were to take over the preparation and organization of the Holy Mass – what a variety, what a gift that would be for the worldwide Schoenstatt Family!
Each week we are kept in suspense about the state of the weather. Our Original Shrine is small and only offers a limited number of people the possibility to sit down. However, everything this demands of us (cold, rain, snow and sunshine, seating or standing room) can be placed in the capital of grace for …
Every Saturday the Pilgrimage Prayer for 2014 is prayed in the Holy Mass “on the way to 2014”. This is repeatedly reported in the news items and shown in the photos. How long has the prayer card with this prayer been available, and how may have been printed? In how many languages?
The prayer cards were printed at the beginning of the Triennium. The aim was to help us to experience that we are a praying community on this pilgrimage to 2014. What are most important to us are the three questions that come at the end of the prayer:
- What do I want to give thanks for today?
- What will I place into the jar today?
- Which missionary step can I take today?
The important word is today, here and now: “First prove that you really love me …”
We don’t know how many cards have been printed so far. We only know how many were printed in Germany. So far 72.500 prayer cards in six languages: German, Spanish, English, French, Czech, Italian.
But that is only a fraction. Brazil, Chile, Croatia, and Poland have printed the prayer cards in their own countries. Burundi and India also want to print the pilgrimage prayer 2014 in their own countries. At this point I would like to ask all these countries to send Team 2014 some samples of the prayer cards they have printed.
A Schoenstatter from Zimbabwe asked us at schoenstatt.org for prayer cards in English, French and Portuguese. What must they and others do to get these prayer cards?
You only have to ask Team 2014 and we will help them. Our email address is: sekretariat@schoenstatt2014.org
What other things are available to remind us of 2014, which you and Team 2014 have developed together? Why did you choose precisely these things? What is their message?
One other sign is our Jubilee flag. We want “to show our colours”.
The vertical flow of the colours in the flag indicates the powerful flow of life. The way the top and bottom flow into each other symbolises the merging of nature and grace, which is expressed in the motto: Nothing without You – Nothing without Us.
The flowing colours remind me personally of a verse in the Gloria in Heavenwards: “We see streams of love flowing, pouring down richly on earth and heaven, coming from Eternal Love and returning to their source.”
For the Year of the Shrine Current and beyond we have created an antependium, an altar frontal. Our aim is to illustrate the network of shrines and their connectedness with one another and the Original Shrine.
Coming across the 2014 logo is a strong factor in helping people to feel at home and connected. Are there any other ideas of how we can make 2014 more visible? What can we still look forward to?
I would like to mention one example. There is a countdown clock marking the time until 5 p.m. on 18 October 2014. It came about in collaboration with Alicja Kostka of the Schoenstatt Women’s Federation and can be bought from Verlag Admirabilis Edition.
We in Team 2014 are happy to receive ideas from the worldwide Schoenstatt Family.
In this context I would like to ask: What creativity is developing in connection with the Jubilee Logo and Motto in the various countries? Everyone at www.schoenstatt.org would be happy if you were to tell us about them.
Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England
