Agathe Hug. Noooooo! Schoenstatters are not superstitious! And if they are it is just a very, very little bit! However, instead of starting the Mass with “In the Name of the Father…” Father Raúl Espina began with this observation: “It is said that the year that begins will be like whatever you experienced on the last day of year. Today, we can only hope that the Mass in covenant with the Philippines will not be a model for the year 2012.” But, looking at it from another point of view, after overcoming all the obstacles, the last Holy Mass in covenant of 2011 was celebrated. And after everything that happened, this was the good news.
The door was closed…
What happened? Those who were going to participate in the Holy Mass at 7:00 a.m. on December 31st were at the Original Shrine on time, as were the Sisters of Mary, who arrived to take care of the liveliness… Only the priest was missing, because of something unexpected. So the sacristan went to breakfast, and he closed the sacristy, because he thought that the Holy Mass would not be celebrated on the last day of the year 2011. When they tried to communicate with Father Raúl, the kind priest who answered the call to say that the celebrant was not at home; but that, he was on the way. But the sacristy was closed! When the priest finally arrived, he could not find the sacristan. Where would they get the liturgical vestments? Surely, not through the keyhole! Pilgrims’ House saved the situation. Someone traveled the few meters by auto, interrupted the Sisters’ breakfast and asked them for an alb and a stole. Time was ticking away. The next Mass would begin at 8:00 a.m. Sister Luciane invited those who were waiting to pray for the Philippine Islands, and she announced the intentions that were to be prayed. Everything went into the jar.
Hurry!
Meanwhile, Father Riechers, the Rector of the Original Shrine, passed in front of the old House on his way to breakfast, and he stopped to open the sacristy to give Father Raúl the chasuble and stole. Finally, at 7:35 a.m., Father Raúl said those words worth of consideration in regard to the last day of the year. The Holy Mass was celebrated without agitation, but at a good pace and it ended at 7:50 a.m. when the priest exited. Sometimes Schoenstatt knows how to hurry!
No, Schoenstatters are not superstitious. And if they are, then it is just a very, very little bit. But it could also be called a symbolic thought. And Schoenstatters are good about this! Well, let us think about it symbolically. I leave this for your meditation for the New Year.
A blessed and dynamic new year, filled with graces from the Shrine
The editors of schoenstatt.org wish their collaborators, correspondents, their readers, and benefactors, all those who pray…a blessed beginning of the Year 2012. May it be a year of miracles, a year filled with surprises of Divine Providence, a year of experiencing the work of the divine, a year of a community of destinies, a year of the Shrine, a year of growth in being more of a family throughout the Schoenstatt work, a year of communion, above all the limits of the communities, so that it will be a full, fruitful, and blessed year. Hurry!… So, that at the end, in this case, in 2014, we will arrive punctually.
Nos cum prole pía… 
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation – Melissa Peña-Janknegt: English edit
