CHILE, Carmen Rogers. . He departed on the vigil of the great day. He is the first pilgrim toward October 18, 2014. And he marked the way, as he had marked it throughout Chilean Schoenstatt history, as a foundation, founder, guide and father.
During the homily at the funeral, Father Mariano Irureta simply and clearly said: “Cedric was always first. He was one of the first who was rooted and believed in this holy land of Bellavista, which he loved with a profound love, in his groups (his beloved group of the Holy Grail: he was the youngest, the tallest), in his person (Mario Hiriart), in the ideals of holiness and mission. He lived everyday sanctity with mission consciousness in the midst of the world, and he made an effort to make his work a space where the entire reality of the Gospel could be formed.”
He was a founder of the Couples’ Branch, of the Family Institute and he was a constant support for each and every one of the communities; Cedric is the sign given by God upon opening the doors of the Shrine, which he loved so much. To begin the Jubilee road, we have seen him take the first step; we personally knew a founder and a father like the Father who taught him.
“If you truly want to know Father, you have to listen to the Mollers”
It was a day of torrential rain and in those years one could only get to Bellavista by blindly and irresponsibly trusting in Divine Providence (according to the parents).
He wanted to meet that Father, who he already admired profoundly, but he did not yet know him in his heart. And I risked it; the water at my small caer literally reached my ankles, but I was at the Pilgrims’ Center of Bellavista at the time of the meeting.
Cedric and María Teresa were the center of attention of the few who had arrived. And with simple words, joking among them, they began to captivate us with their stories. That of the Father who welcomed his “small Joseph Engling” with a glass of milk in Milwaukee. And that of Father, who “little by little or violently destroyed my pride and obstinate tenacity like an immense anvil,” as Cedric repeated in a testimony and he concluded: “I had never been hit so strongly with the truth. Until I slowly understood. A torrent, a whirlwind, is not helped with a soft hand.”
“He could carry the cross, overcome its shadows and rise like a luminous star, thanks to his transformation and that he lived like the Founder and Father’s son,” Father Mariano Irureta said during the funeral homily.
Today, on the same holy ground that he traveled to the Shrine a thousand times, Cedric tells us to open ourselves to God’s grace. And to renew ourselves and to fill our hearts with his spirit, and to begin from the beginning with the original strengths. The strengths that Father gave us through him as a living foundation of this family.
Tall like Father’s standard bearer who followed him with heroic loyalty, Cedric, is once again our guide toward the unique experience of this year of graces and joy.
Original: Spanish – Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio TX USA
