mev. On September 29th, Feast of the Holy Archangels – this time the traditional Mass toward 2014 was celebrated in covenant with all the countries where Schoenstatt exists in some way even if this information is unknown.
The Holy Mass “toward 2014” in the Original Shrine took us from one country to another where the Covenant of Love is present. Throughout nearly three years, all the countries where this covenant exists were mentioned, regardless if it was a country where there was only one Pilgrim MTA with two or three people inflamed with the fire of the Covenant of Love, or countries with decades of Schoenstatt history and hundreds of members. New names appeared, which show the daring and ingenuity of those who believe in the work of the Most Holy Virgin from her Shrine. Sometimes we were surprised by those names, but it also made us feel responsible to express the Blessed Mother’s love to them.
Throughout these one hundred thirty Masses in covenant with a country, up to twenty priests have concelebrated with crowds outside the Shrine, with a choir and an abundance of symbols, and there have been small groups on snowy, windy, or rainy days. Some countries celebrated “their” Masses simultaneously with hundreds of participants; others were remembered without anyone noticing it in their own country. Some of these Holy Masses have awakened an awareness of Schoenstatt’s presence, others have led people to Schoenstatt…and each Mass in covenant with a country has showered Jubilee graces on this country and the entire world.
Further afield
Father Javier Arteaga, Director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina, wrote:
“I congratulate those who took the initiative to celebrate the Holy Mass every Saturday in the Original Shrine praying for the countries where Schoenstatt exists. In a way, it is the realization of the Founding Father’s “favorite idea” about October 18, 1914: that Schoenstatt be “a place of pilgrimage, a place of grace…even further afield.” (Schoenstatt Founding Documents, p.30)
Father Ignacio Camacho celebrated this Eucharist, in which all the countries that were not named during these three years and those where the covenant of love is also desired were remembered. Perhaps in some cases it is about a missionary act of some “virtual pilgrim” who visits this page in Kiribati, Malawi, Grenada, Mauritius, Mongolia, Botswana, and more…
Witness of the First Covenant
“Today we celebrated the Feast of the Archangels, Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel. We have a special relationship with Michael the Archangel, Father Ignacio said, perhaps the first witness of our history at the founding hour. Today we pray for all the people who carry the name of those archangels, especially for the rector of the Shrine, Father Michael Marmann.”
In Covenant with projects
Beginning in October 2012, nearly coinciding with the Universal Year of the Faith at the service of the New Evangelization proclaimed by the Church and the Year of the Missionary current in preparation for our Jubilee, it is the turn of the apostolic projects.
Every first Saturday of the month, the Holy Mass “toward 2014” will be celebrated in covenant with a category of projects in a specific area – all the schools, kindergartens, media, vocational initiatives: family academies, couples’ accompaniment, marriage preparation, social projects for the sick, disabled, the poor, children; political initiatives, business leadership, family missions, youth missions, prison ministry, educational courses…and the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign and its modalities: jails, and at-risk babies, …as Schoenstatt’s apostolic and missionary arm. In this way, every Saturday, a large number of different projects will be remembered, whether they are known or not…inviting us to become on fire with so many of the varied large projects that are responding to the needs of people and sharing the graces of the Shrine.
On other Saturdays, it will be the turn of specific projects in the five apostolic fields defined in Conference 2014, beginning with what is already in the “Virtual Tents of the Covenant Culture”. Three or four projects from the five apostolic fields will be presented each month (depending on the number of Saturdays in the month) and many more will be born.
Important texts and tools
- Intentions for Holy Masses 2014
- Missionary current
- Covenant Culture – virtual tents of the Covenant of Love
- List of Projects and Groups of Projects October –December 2012
Spanish/English translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX
