BRAZIL. Fr. Alexandre Awi. At the request of the 2014 Team, the Original Pilgrim Mother will be at the 2014 celebrations in Schoenstatt and Rome. Before leaving for the Original Shrine, however, she will travel from the north to the south of Brazil uniting the Schoenstatt Family from Shrine to Shrine.
Fr. Alexandre Awi, the National Director for the Apostolic Schoenstatt Movement in Brazil, wrote an official statement to communicate this great blessing:
Dear members of the National Presidency, National Directors Central and Diocesan (or local) Councils of the Schoenstatt Family, Missionaries and Pilgrim Mother Campaign Coordinators in Brazil:
I am, through this letter, bringing you important news: our Mother and Queen of the Covenant is giving us an enormous gift on our way to 2014. She, as the great Missionary, wants to go on pilgrimage with us and prepare Brazil for the hour of grace at the Centenary of the Covenant of Love.
Of course, everyone knows that the Original Pilgrim Mother, which the servant of God, João Luiz Pozzobon, used to start his work of evangelization on September 10, 1950, will be one of the central symbols of the jubilee celebrations in Schoenstatt and Rome in October 2014. For this reason, we as Brazilians can be joyful and it is a gift from God. Every gift, therefore, simultaneously implies a task. We once again want to follow Pozzobon’s example, our Marian mission, and as the Schoenstatt Family of Brazil, take the fire of mission and the charism of our father and founder into the next 100 years of our history.
In light of this great aim, and with the intention of further uniting our Brazilian Schoenstatt Family in this great jubilee preparation, the National Directors’ Central proposes that, before the Original Pilgrim Mother goes to Schoenstatt, she will go on pilgrimage from north to south of our Tabor Brazil, visiting our Family in the regions, Shrines, cities and dioceses.
The pilgrimage of the Original Pilgrim Mother, with whom João Pozzobon walked more than 140,000 kilometres, has already been in the Original Shrine, and has received the blessing of Pope John Paul II, aims to revitalize the network of Shrines in our Tabor Brazil and “and fill them with a mission consciousness.” In this way, we want our daughter shrines, wayside shrines, home shrines, parish shrines and, especially, our heart shrines to experience unity among one another and form a bond with the same source, the Original Shrine.
More concretely, this bond “from Shrine to Shrine” will be expressed by the pilgrimage of the Original Pilgrim Mother, accompanied by the lamp that represents the fire of the Tabor Mission, and will remain in each of the daughter Shrines visited.
The holy fire, the flame of the Schoenstatt mission – which for us is in Brazil is the Tabor Mission – that burns in the shrine should burn in the heart of the Schoenstatt Family, keeping the spirit of the origin for the next 100 years and strengthening the awareness of a Family mission, in the context of re-founding the Movement.
On April 18, 2012, the Original Pilgrim Mother will leave the Tabor Shrine in Santa Maria on pilgrimage, with the great missionary, from Shrine to Shrine, taking the graces of the origins of this blessed Campaign. A travel schedule was prepared for this pilgrimage and this will be communicated to the Schoenstatt Family in the four Regions.
The Original Pilgrim Mother will be on the road until October 2013, when she will return to her place of origin, the heart of the Pilgrim Mother Campaign in Santa Maria. From there, the preparations will be made for her important journey to the Original Shrine and Rome, for the international celebration of the Centenary of the Covenant of Love.
Undoubtedly, this is an enormous gift that we are receiving in this year of the Shrine! After a powerful experience of the pilgrimage of the Father Symbol last year, now the Mother of God will visit us, in the image of the original Pilgrim Mother. She is coming so soon because there are only two years until the great jubilee.
We already want to prepare ourselves joyfully for this important visit, taking care that this relic is treated, transported and venerated with all of our love, respect and dignity. Just like João Pozzobon, our Mother and Queen of Schoenstatt should inflame us with a new apostolic ardor and a deep mission consciousness. She wants to unite us from Shrine to Shrine, bringing the Tabor light on this journey towards 2014.
Let us prepare ourselves with joy for such a special visit! I already want to thank you for all the effort, care, selflessness and creativity in making this visit an unforgettable moment for our Tabor Family.
United in the Covenant, I ask for the blessing of God and our dear MTA on you all.
Londrina, February 8, 2012
Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello
What wonderful news – Comments
What joy that we can receive such an honored visit in our Limeira Diocese. We pray to God that the MTA can also visit Pirassununga, where we will wait for her with open arms— our dear Mother, who gives us all such graces and blessings. Come Mother, come bless us! From Bem and Maria do Carmo. de Bem – Pirassununga/SP
This visit will be a blessing! To be able to remember how João Pozzobon started this Campaign will give us strength to carry on believing in the graces that we receive from the visit of our Mother and Queen. I hope that the Diocese of Anápolis-Goiás will be included on the list for this special visit. Edileuza Maria – Corumbá/GO
Welcome dear MTA! Our family is waiting for your visit with great joy and enthusiasm; you are the bearer of divine blessings and graces. From now, we will accompany you spiritually, in prayer, throughout the entire pilgrim way, taking your Divine Son in your arms and blessings on all those who run to you with faith and trust. We are eternally grateful to God, for receiving a monthly visit from the Pilgrim Mother, fruit of the effort and heroic trust of the founder of the Pilgrim Mother Campaign, Deacon João Luiz Pozzobon. May our good God repay him very soon, granting him the honors of the altar. Teresinha de Jesus Santos da Rosa – Rio Negro/PR
Dear Mother of Schoenstatt, we received this news with great joy! Guide, strengthen and protect the missionaries throughout this enormous country of Brazil, so that we can remain firm in our journey. Thank you for the many gifts and graces that we receive every day from your generous hands. Luiza Maria Braga de Castro – São Domingos do Prata/MG
When I read the news, I must tell you that my heart jumped with joy…and I am certain that João Pozzobon’s heart was also very happy. That Tabor Brazil may receive the MTA’s blessings!!! Poço de Caldas and the Diocese of Guaxupé will definitely also receive her with open arms! Caroline Moraes de Freitas – Poço das Caldas/MG
What a blessing!!! After the gift of receiving a visit from the Father Symbol last year, now we hear the news that the Original Pilgrim Mother will visit our dioceses. First father and now Mother! We are thankful for this additional grace and anxiously wait for the list of dates and itinerary of her pilgrimage. We hope that our region will be included in her journey. Thank you Fr. Kentenich, because without 18 October 1914, we wouldn’t have these privileges! Angela and Rui Sacramento – Tremembé/SP
Welcome, dear Mother!!!! Our small São Bento Abade is waiting for you with open arms…because we know that you will bring us many graces! We are just a small dot in this huge Brazil, but our love for you, Mother, is just so big… Silvia Cristina Mora de Oliveira – São Bento Abada/MG
What a great joy to receive such good news that Mother will visit us once again! To know that this same Original Pilgrim Mother, who was carried with such love over 140,000km on the shoulders of God’s Servant, João Luiz Pozzobon, is traveling through our Brazil. It is a great honor and joy to know that she will also be one of the main symbols at the jubilee celebrations in Schoenstatt and Rome. Yes, all of the Pilgrim Mother missionaries will take the necessary care to ensure that this relic is treated, transported and venerated with all the love, respect and dignity it deserves, honoring Pozzobon’s apostolic fervor and all the missionaries of the Mission. That we may have the grace of being close to her once again. Livônia and Antonio – Santana Region in São Paulo/SP
Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Pretoria, South-Africa
