BRAZIL, fma. Maria Rita Vianna from Sao Paulo, Brazil, joined the schoenstatt.org and schoenstatt2014.org translation and editorial team several weeks ago. She translates from Spanish to Portuguese. Here, she shares what it means for her to translate for the international website, her apostolate and what most attracts her about the Covenant of Love Jubilee.
– What motivated you to give your time to translate and edit for the international website?
Our Good Father has given us so many blessings and graces, starting with life itself and baptism. If He gives us a special ‘gift,’ we must place ourselves at His service, for his glory. It also means fulfilling one of the demands of the Covenant of Love: bring me contributions…
– A little bit about your personal history – with Schoenstatt, apostolate, profession…
I got to know the Vila Mariana shrine when I got married in 1975. I was born and lived in the interior of Sao Paulo State, but my mother’s family (her mother, brothers, nephews) lived very close to the Shrine. I started attending Mass and little by little, I was invited to seal my Covenant of Love as a pilgrim. Later, Celina invited me to join the Mothers’ League – where I have remained to this day. Although I have two degrees, it was not in God’s plan for me to pursue my profession. He wants me in the Apostolic Schoenstatt Movement, as a Mothers’ League member and Pilgrim Mother Campaign facilitator.
– What attracts you most about 2014?
The reality, shall we say, proof that Mary really takes up residence in the Schoenstatt Shrines, where she meets men, women, young people, children who are prepared to live as the new person in the new society. A work that, if it were not the will of Divine Providence, would not have reached its 100th anniversary, nor would it have spread to all corners of the world.
– What is your favorite passage from Message 2014?
“Covenant Culture!” – which can be summed up as MISSION, TASK! It calls us to live the motto for the Schoenstatt Family in Brazil: “From Shrine to Shrine, Covenant missionaries!”
– What is your favorite passage from the Pilgrimage Prayer?
“Give us the strength to spread a Covenant Culture in our world today!” This is what a mechanistic world expects from each person who seals his or her Covenant of Love, through Mary, with the Holy Trinity!
– What does the international motto “Your Covenant – Our Mission” mean for you?
Yes, Mission! It means a TOTAL GIVING OF SELF, who I am, my actions, abilities, limits, and talents – as a contribution to the Capital of Grace. It means reaching out to the human beings of today and their reality, which revolves solely around the ‘me’ without recognizing the work of the Holy Trinity in their lives.
– What are your hopes for 2014?
The completion of the process for the canonization of our founder, Fr. Joseph Kentenich, that he may be receive the honors of the altar, which he really deserves, because he left us an example of what everyday sanctity is about.
– What does it mean for you to translate so many different articles and texts? What has your experience been?
For me, translating the articles symbolizes the unity of the International Schoenstatt Family. There are so many opportunities to learn about what is happening in the Shrines around the world, in each heart that gives itself to the Covenant of Love…
– Which article has touched you the most so far?
The article about Slovakia – I even mentioned it to Fr. Alexandre (Sao Paulo). I did not expect that from a place so far away from our Brazil, they knew about the pilgrimage of the Original Pilgrim Mother of Schoenstatt that João Pozzobon used to take to families, schools and so many other places. This is what our founder hopes for so dearly: Cor unum in Patre!
– Is there a passage or a commitment that has especially touched you?
The prayers that so many people in all of the Shrines around the world are saying for the process for the canonization of the servant of God, João Luiz Pozzobon! I have had the opportunity to visit Santa Maria, to see the long streets where he walked and the axe, on the handle of which he marked the 10 rosaries he prayed daily during his work. Finally, a husband, father who shows us what true holiness is: to be missionary of Jesus, taking Him through His Mother to all who dearly need Him.
Sarah-Leah Pimentel: English translation
