CHILE, Carmen M. Rogers. He went silently, serenely just as he had lived. Like Mary, I would dare say. And because of that silence, Christmas and vacation time passed without being able to say “thank you” again. Yes. Enrique Viveros, “the man with the bow tie,” died during Advent and it was not a news item.
During great festivities and on some second Saturday of the month when they had a meeting of the first course for the Institute of Families, I was able to embrace him and Olga, and feel as if I was touching the person of our Father and Founder. Both of them were very warm and personal. How often did Enrique look at me directly – eye to eye – sincerely concerned and asking me, “are you OK?”
My first experience of Family
I had my first experience of Family with Enrique and Olga. They were the leaders of a National Leaders Conference, and I was a member of the Professional Women’s Branch. I was presently looking into the world of Schoenstatt. For years, religiously once a year, they gave me the grace of “helping them” (the truth is that they were the conquering instruments which the MTA chose for me). I learned how to be family from them; from them I had the certainty – on that opportunity in which I represented the voice of my Branch – in an unprepared intervention, and “I felt” they were in the Shrine on that warm November afternoon while I spoke; from them I learned the meaning of the evangelical counsels lived joyfully and naturally amidst the world.
Before and after
Enrique introduced me into the liturgical world with the Holy Week ceremonies that he coordinated – in great detail – from the sacristy. Enrique, with his ever-present camera, gave me a sense of history… A thousand details, a thousand messages from the Blessed Mother through this beloved couple!
I cannot speak of a “before and after” of the Viveros. I do not know how much they grew in Schoenstatt, because when I met them, they were already “great.” But the two of them marked my own life history with a “before and after.” Thank you for them, Blessed Mother! Thank you for lending us your “man with the bow tie and photographer’s camera!
Translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA 03202012
