mda. “Counting down the days to the start of our Jubilee year…” This was an email greeting from Nella Coto from Costa Rica. 365 days. Just one year to go. The 18th of October marks the start of the Jubilee Year of the Covenant of Love. We are standing on the threshold of gratitude, reconciliation, forgiveness, renewal, and the 2014 graces we have been waiting and hoping for. This is the start of a year of intense preparation, the final stretch at the advent of something that began in February 2009 with the 2014 Conference to plan for 18 October 2014 which we, together with our MTA, desired: “it was clearly evident from the various countries’ contribution that the MTA is inviting us to go on pilgrimage to the original shrine on 18 October 2014. All are welcome to participate in this pilgrimage. The place and time hold sacramental value for us” (Message 2014). Counting down the days until the start of the Jubilee year…we desire the renewal of the Covenant of Love in its expressive missionary force which internationally binds and connects us. As fruits of this renewal of the Covenant of Love we hope for the renewal of the entire Schoenstatt Family and a global covenant culture. (Working document 2014). Counting down the days to the start of our Jubilee year, we prepare our jubilee gift – expressed in a wide range of apostolic projects – for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in covenant solidarity with him and the new Pentecost that he represents, for our Church at the service of people most need of her as “mother and pastor.”
This 18 October, when all the shrines around the world will celebrate the start of the Jubilee Year, begins with the registration for Mary’s Crusade 2014. “I am aware of the importance of sharing the news of the Crusade with the whole Movement and therefore, I will send you all the information you need to publish all the news about it on schoenstatt.org,” writes Fr. José María Iturreria, one of the Schoenstatt Fathers responsible for organizing the Crusade. The goal for this enormous project by the International Boys’ Youth — the Missionary Generation — not only brings together the symbols of our Jubilee, but also all of the joy and commitment that goes with it.
Stepping over the threshold
In Schoenstatt itself — see the 2014 Newsletter for all the details – and in many shrines and wayside shrines, preparations are underway with even more commitment and anticipation for this 18 October which is not just any 18 October, but is the start of the 2014 Jubilee Year.
Irma Ramírez, a missionary in Puerto Esperanza in Misiones Province, Argentina, wrote:
“Dear Mother, with much joy we are preparing the great celebration for the start of the Jubilee Year. I ask you to accompany us in our preparations, we pray for a beautiful day from this distant corner: from our wayside shrine we want to unite ourselves spiritually with the Original Shrine so that we can “cross the threshold.” Amen. Thank you dear Mother!!!”
In Goya, Corrientes, pamphlets are being printed with the 2014 pilgrimage prayer and a small stone from the Original Shrine as a gift for all of the pilgrims who will go to that simple wayside shrine on 18 October.
In Bellavista and throughout Chile
A conscious preparation for a year of grace is underway in Chile. The opening of the “2014 Jubilee Year” (and the culmination of the Year of Missionary Current) was simultaneously celebrated on Saturday 12 October 2013 at five Regional Leaders Days. Five locations were chosen so that more leaders attend without having to worry about the difficulties of travelling. “We are on the way with a desire to experience the 2014 Jubilee Year as a Family united around our Father and Founder, encouraged by faith and the experience of the Covenant and on fire for the Mission,” Fr. Eduardo Aguirre wrote to the Schoenstatt Family in Chile, motivating them to celebrate the opening of the Jubilee Year in every Shrine and Wayside Shrine in the country on 18 October, with pilgrimages, adoration and a Covenant Mass. “The important thing is for everyone; every community and every member of the Schoenstatt Family to participate with enthusiasm and commitment by being involved and feeling jointly responsible for the 2014 celebration, to offer the Church the Covenant of Love with Mary, which has transformed our lives,” said Fr. Eduardo Aguirre, the National Director of the Chilean Schoenstatt Movement. (Letter to the Schoenstatt Family in Chile)
Argentina: From the Shrine emerges a Covenant Culture, a Culture of Encounter
In Argentina, a simple and meaningful liturgy was drawn up for the renewal of the Covenant of Love and the start of the Jubilee Year; emphasizing that a Covenant Culture, a culture of encounter emerges from the Shrine, and is tied to a commitment to Pope Francis:
“The Covenant of Love with Mary inwardly impels us to renew and build a new world in Christ, as our Pope Francis constantly invites us. As the Schoenstatt Family in Argentina, in this Jubilee Year, we want to pray for our Holy Father and accept his invitation to build a culture of encounter, a Covenant Culture. The Pope tells us: ‘Encountering and welcoming everyone, solidarity, and fraternity these are what make our society truly human. Be servers of communion and of the culture of encounter. Allow me to say that we should almost be obsessed in this sense.’
ALL: Dear Mother, as children of the Church we thank you and we pray for Pope Francis. We want to draw ourselves into this new impulse of life to build a culture of encounter, a Covenant Culture. We open the doors of our hearts to receive your visit, to welcome the gifts of this Jubilee Year and to make space in our hearts for everybody, without excluding anybody…”
A very special start to the Jubilee Year is being planned at the Shrine in Buenos Aires in Belgrano St, because it coincides with its Golden Jubilee.
The group responsible for pastoral work at the Shrine in Tucumán invites the Schoenstatt Family to “attend the opening of the Jubilee Year in Schoenstatt as a concrete gesture of our international attachment and the mark of our spiritual pilgrimage to the Original Shrine. This Shrine is not just a chapel of grace, nor just another Schoenstatt Shrine, but it is the place of our specific grace that calls us to a commitment “to vitally and apostolically demonstrate that this small place is our common home, and our source of specific graces without which we cannot exist or act. Without the Original Shrine we can neither be Father’s Family nor an apostolic Movement at the service of Church and society.” The live transmission from Germany will be shown at 15.00 inside the shrine for all those who can attend. For those who cannot be there, the ceremony will be broadcast on EWTN,” reads the programme. So that as many people as possible can participate, the start of the Jubilee Year will have two parts to it: the live transmission and later in the afternoon. A pilgrimage will start from the gate of the entrance to the shrine, praying the Rosary and accompanied by the Auxiliary Pilgrim Mothers, pilgrim mothers, pictures of the home shrine, crowned pictures in the wayside shrines and parishes. This will be followed by the rite for the opening of the Covenant Year, the 2014 pilgrimage prayer, and Mass during which we will renew our Covenant of Love. After the opening rite of the Jubilee Year everyone will form a net as a symbol of the Covenant of Love, expressed in love, with fraternal attachments, in solidarity, in an encounter with the other and in service. The ropes that will form the net will take the shape of our triennial logo and have the following motto: “With Mary, Queen of a united, fruitful and holy family, we celebrate the Jubilee.”
“At the start of this Jubilee Year, we bless and open the doors of the Shrine,” writes Fr. Javier Arteaga, the national director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Argentina. “‘Crossing the threshold of the shrine’ is the certainty that the side of Christ and the heart of Mary, like the Church, are open to all their children and that each pilgrim, upon entering the shrine, will receive special Jubilee graces. The opening of the door to the Shrine also reminds us that each one of us is called to be an open Shrine so that we can encounter our brother. Crossing the threshold of the Shrine represents the commitment to live this Jubilee Year in the Covenant of Love with Mary and to work daily towards a new culture of encounter with our brother and with God, a culture of attachments and sincere dialogue, a culture of truth and reconciliation, a culture of work and the common good, a Covenant Culture.”
Brazil: a three-day celebration in many Shrines, wayside shrines and chapels
It is worthwhile to visit Brazil’s Schoenstatt websites to enjoy the multi-coloured posters of the many Shrines and wayside Shrines inviting people to the opening of the Jubilee Year! The opening at the Original Shrine will be televised on one of Brazil’s most largest broadcasters, reaching every corner of the country.
To bring the Jubilee to the Church and the whole world, a recording was sent to many radio stations and websites. The Santa Maria Girls’ Youth of Santa Maria produced a video with a song and dance especially for the Opening of the Jubilee of the Covenant of Love, entitled “In each Shrine”. The aim of the video is to organize a flash mob on 18 October.
Italy: A year of thanksgiving and grace
“A year of Thanksgiving and grace has begun for us,” wrote Fr. Ludovico Tedeschi in the Covenant newsletter. Holy Mass will be celebrated at 17.30 on 18 October at the parish of the Schoenstatt Fathers in Trastevere and the Belmonte Shrine, to mark the start of the Jubilee Year.
Germany: A great Jubilee Feast
The German Movement is already celebrating the Jubilee– all information in the 2014 Newsletter.
In spite of the focus at Schoenstatt, there are also celebrations in some of the other Shrines around the country to mark the start of the Jubilee year. At the Shrine at Memhoelz, for example, 100 roses will be offered to the Blessed Mother for all she has given us in these 100 years of Covenant. Afterwards, they are invited to watch the transmission from Schoenstatt “as a family.”
Spain: Vigils
This year, the three Shrines in Madrid, Pozuelo and Barcelona, have joined together to prepare the same liturgy, in union with everything that happening at the Original Shrine. They want to go through the Holy Door of the Shrine together and start the year of graces. The Jubilee Year begins on 18 October. “We would like unite ourselves with all of the shrines around the world, especially the Original Shrine in a special Mass, where together as family, in this year of graces, joy, forgiveness, pilgrimage, renewing the Covenant of Love with our Mother as a family”, reads the letter to the Schoenstatt Family in Madrid. At the Serrano Shrine, mass will be at 20.30h as normal, followed by snacks. This will be followed by a night of Adoration from 22.00h (after the ceremony) until 08.00 on Saturday 19 October. At Pozuelo, Mass will be celebrated at 11h and at 20h with a special liturgy and vigil from 22h to 8h of the next day.
The Leaders’ Conference in Cataluña took place last weekend. It was a very blessed event and was well-attended. They found their motto for the year: Your Covenant, our Mission, that is, the motto of the International Family. “With this motto we want to emphasize on the Covenant of Love as the essence of our Family, but which also becomes a mission to transmit what our MTA, through Fr. Kentenich, gave to the world and the Church: the Covenant,” reported the new website for Schoenstatt in Cataluña.
Vienna Austria: Service to the poor to start the Holy Year
“We would like to build at the Kahlenberg Shrine for our MTA”, wrote Eva and Erich Berger, the Movement Directors in their 18 October Covenant Letter. A new house in a place where there are already enough? No, this is something else. “We start with a house in Paraguay for our Mother’s children.” Tita Andras, collaborator of schoenstatt.org, was invited to present this Jubilee project born from other collaborators and friends of the website: “100 houses in the streets for the 100 years of our home in Schoenstatt! The Berger couple writes: “For 200€ you can support the construction of simple houses for homeless people in Paraguay. Is anyone interested in supporting Tita’s idea? A service to the poor to start the Jubilee Year?”
Paraguay: Crossing the Jubilee Portico
“The Novena we pray in the lead up to 18 October becomes more popular every year,” says Fr. Antonio Cosp, the National Movement Director for Paraguay. The Holy Mary of the Trinity Church, I believe, is part of the attraction. But also the Schoenstatt Youth who have filled Tuparenda for the last two years (some 100 Boys’ Youth and some 100 Girls’ Youth). In addition to this, many married couples from the Diocese of San Lorenzo which is made up of many cities are in the Family and Mothers’ branches. Not to mention the Pilgrim Mother Campaign.
The Jubilee Portico was built over the last few days. It is 100m from the Tuparenda Shrine. All pilgrims are invited to pass through it as a sign of this year of grace and jubilation. The 35,000 pilgrims who are waiting for 18 October 2014 will take their first Jubilee steps on this day. This is why we pray:
“From Tuparenda, we unite with the International Schoenstatt Family who today begins its jubilee pilgrimage to 18 October 2014. We will do this by passing through this large and beautiful JUBILEE PORTICO on the path we regularly use to go to the Shrine. This portico leads us towards the Shrine as our home, our place of origin and grace. Crossing this portico every Sunday this year will remind us of this day of graces and blessings and our hearts will be renewed in the mission of becoming living shrines!”
South Africa: Mass with the Bishop
In Johannesburg, Archbishop Buti Tlhagale will celebrate Holy Mass on 17 October to usher in the Jubilee Year. In Cape Town, the Schoenstatt Family will gather for Mass on the 18th and watch the official opening live on EWTN.
Colombia: Vigil, adoration and pilgrimage to the Nuevo Belén Shrine
“In Colombia, our hearts are filled with joy for the start of our Jubilee Year, the final year of our preparation for the renewal of our Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother,” writes María Francisca Riaño. A vigil night of Adoration will take place on the eve of 18 October as a sign that we are humble instruments who allow ourselves to be guided by the God’s plans in Mary’s hands. On 18 October 2013, there will be a Eucharistic celebration in Bogotá to officially open the Jubilee Year.
The Mothers’ branch has prepared a pilgrimage to Nuevo Belén Shrine, one of the shrines in Colombia. Even though it is not yet finished, the Blessed Mother is there. This pilgrimage will take place on 5,6 and 7 November.
Costa Rica: Five tents of Covenant Culture
In San José, Costa Rica, Mass will be celebrated in the Shrine of the Provincial House, ending with the ringing of the bells and the cutting of a tape leading into a hall where the tents of Covenant Culture will be displayed. This will be followed by a small ceremony to mark the start of the Jubilee Year and the Covenant of Love. The tents, represented by the five large pillars filled with photographs, provide explanations about our apostolates and a video showing the everyday apostolate of the various branches. Afterwards, there will be snacks to share and lots of joy!
“We hope that it will be beautiful, and that it is very moving!!! There are already 50 of us going to Germany and Rome next year!” writes Nella Coto.
These are just some of the “previews” of what will take place on 18 October 2013…a day when every shrine, but especially every living shrine will open to give the best of itself, in this momentous jubilee step to “go, without fear, to serve” (Pope Francis) – from our Covenant of Love to a Covenant Culture in our world.
Original: Spanish. Translation: Kohnie Valderrama, Madrid, Spain
and Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa
