Sarah-Leah Pimentel. Only four days to go until the date we have been preparing and waiting for so long. 18.10.2014 is finally here. We have spent at least five years preparing for this moment. But what does it all mean? What is the significance of renewing the covenant of love on the anniversary of 100 years of Schoenstatt.
Giving thanks for the road we have travelled
We look back on the road we have travelled. We give thanks for the many blessings and for the MTA’s faithfulness in the darkest hours of our Schoenstatt story. We express our gratitude for our Schoenstatt heroes and all the ordinary anonymous Family members who gave themselves fully for this mission. We think of the many miracles that were the answers to our faith and trust in impossible situations. We echo Fr. Kentenich’s words, giving “a thousand thanks to you [Blessed Mother], to God shall be, now and for all eternity.” (Heavenwards)
We celebrate the countless joys and the times when courageous people listened and acted on the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We remember also our personal journey in the life of the covenant and thank God also for having called each of us to this Family and giving us a mission and a purpose.
The open doors to carry our mission to the church and the world
But we cannot stop there. We are not only celebrating our history, but are also preparing the foundations for the next 100 years. We, therefore, consider the lessons we have learnt along the way and how the life it generated will guide us into the future as we “embrace the different [life] currents within our family today” (from Message 2014).
We are at the threshold of a new century, a new beginning, a new holy springtime in Schoenstatt and in the Church. We remember the desire of Conference 2014: “to discover the open doors required to carry our mission into the Church and the contemporary world” (Message 2014).
What are the signs of the times in our families, in the church and in society? As Schoenstatters, what contribution can we offer for the hopelessness and fear that we find in the world today? Do we really understand what it means to form the “new person in the new society” who are truly inwardly and outwardly free and able to recognize and respond to God’s unique task and mission for each one of us in this century?
Forgiveness and renewal
As we renew the covenant of love on 18.10.2014, we also consider where we have fallen short. Not as a self-flagellation or our Catholic guilt complex, but as an encouragement — as individuals and as an international Schoenstatt Family — of how much further our life in the covenant of love can still reach. Have we fully understood our charism and Fr. Kentenich’s vision so that we can “fulfil the great mission” that the Blessed Mother has given us? How can we increasingly overcome the divisions and differences among us, so that we can become “one heart and one soul” and therefore dedicate “ourselves to the Father as an ideal kingdom,” an example of God’s kingdom on earth? (Prayer of the International, Heavenwards)
Rome: in the heart of the Church and the Holy Father
As we go to Rome and meet Pope Francis, we will present him with the gift of the “fruit of our shrines and our apostolic projects and ask the Holy Father to commission us” (Message 2014). How do we take up his call to reach even into the darkest corners of human existence by sharing the treasures we have received? How can we expand our life in the covenant of love so that our actions truly are able to overcome the barriers that divide us? How can we offer a home to those that have been rejected by society, or even the members of our Family that we have cast out?
As we renew our covenant of love in four days’ time in the original shrine, our local shrines, home shrines and heart shrines, we express Fr. Kentenich’s prayer: With hope and joy, and confident in the victory we go with Mary into the newest times! (Sept 7, 1968)
Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa, is member of the board of editors of schoenstatt.org
Soy de Nicaragua estoy viendo el programs en Miami