GERMANY, fma. We have to offer Christian hope through our witness, through our freedom and through our joy. The gift that God gives us as a grace brings hope. May we, who have the joy of knowing that we are not orphans, that we have a Father, be indifferent when we are faced with a town or city that asks us, perhaps unconsciously, for a hope that will help it to look into the future with more serenity and trust? We cannot be indifferent. But how are we to do it? How can we go ahead and offer hope? By standing on the streets with flyers and saying, “I have hope?” No, with your witness, with your smile, say, “I believe that I have a Father”.
Those were the words of Pope Francis on 17 June. It almost seemed as though he had spoken for the start of the project “Trust in GOD” the previous day in the Schoenstatt Centre at Maria Rast.
Those who had met that sunny Sunday afternoon in order to get an initiative off the ground that had been started by the Family Federation in the West, don’t want to go out onto the streets with flyers and brilliant advice. They want to do it in the spirit of Pope Francis through their witness, as for example: Two colleagues working in a social services organisation were complaining because they were understaffed. One said, “I’ll tell God. We deserve it because today is Sunday. Tomorrow a blonde, blue-eyed and well educated woman will stand at the door and ask for a job.” The other stared at her, “Can you ask God something like that? Glory, I would like to believe in him.” The first sweated out the night and trusted in God … and then it was 8 a.m. The doorbell rang. Outside stood a blonde, blue-eyed woman who asked, “Could I get a job here?” While the first tried to control her trembling knees, the second called out, “Your God really does exist! Wow, that is amazing!”
Who of us dares to reach out to such an experience? Fr Kentenich did. And on 30 October he entered into and proclaimed a covenant with God the Father in Cologne, of all places. Perhaps that was only possible in the Rhineland where a strict, serious and terrifying image of God had never really stood a chance…
A covenant with God the Father
While a number of families in Argentina – the country that has the mission to live and proclaim its attachment to God the Father, and in which the “Father symbol” not only has a place in each Schoenstatt Shrine, but also above the shrine’s door – were praying for the meeting in Maria Rast, Diana and Lukas Schreiber were relating how the initiative had come about. Werner Phillips enlarged on the history and essential elements of this covenant with God the Father, which Fr Kentenich had entered into in the Cologne Shrine on 30 October 1966. The fiftieth anniversary of the covenant with God the Father – what does it mean for us? How was it to be celebrated? It means: Trust in God; going through life trusting in God, not just for ourselves, but approaching people with trust in God. Touching their longing for someone they can trust. Love enkindles life. Our own experiences, a thousand stories, a smile and a single testimony: I have a Father. I can tell you about him … I can talk about it at the celebration marking the fifty years of living in a covenant with God the Father. On a pilgrimage from Cologne to Schoenstatt. I can talk about it at the Abbey of Maria Laach or at Maria Rast, or just “in the town or city that asks us, perhaps unconsciously, for a hope that will help it to look into the future with more serenity and trust?”
A spirit of optimism
“I love to remember the successful kick-off meeting on trust in God! There was something like a spirit of optimism – just what we wanted!” wrote Dirk Helmes two weeks later. Families belonging to the Family Federation, and a number of Schoenstatters who are closely connected to the Cologne shrine and its mission were there, so were younger or older people from various communities, or simply pilgrims – a total of more than 20 people … and it could still grow.
After an intensive discussion in small groups on their personal experience with the covenant with God the Father, all said what they would like to do – and the offer “everything except the finances” became a standard saying. In the end, all had joined a team, some after coming to a difficult decision, because they would have enjoyed doing so many other things. There were teams for content, logistics, a children’s programme, and communication – and some will even look after the finances. All the work in the future will be done in the teams – and whoever from far or near would like to join in with this adventure “trust in GOD” is welcome!
Simply notify kontakt@gott-vertrauen.net
From the shrine
All the ideas, plans and enthusiasm were brought to the shrine at the end with the prayer Fr Kentenich had sent from the concentration camp in Dachau when he heard about the destruction of the first Cologne shrine – the MTA picture in a side chapel of the church – during World War II:
“O Mother, help us to become great miracles
of faith and trust here on earth;
help us to follow your example of faith
and stand even if everything around us is destroyed.
We believe like a child, firmly and trustingly,
that the Father will build a new world,
that he has chosen us to be his instruments,
because you have given birth to the Saviour once more among us.”
Conclusion
“We proclaim the Gospel like this: with my words, with my witness, say, ‘I have a Father. We aren’t orphans. We have a Father’, and share this childhood before the Father with everyone else. ‘Oh, you say, now I understand: We have to convince others in order to grow in numbers.” No, no, that’s not it! The Gospel is like a seed: You sow it, you sow it with your words and with your witness. Afterwards please don’t draw up any statistics about how it fared – God will do that. He allows the seed to grow, but we have to sow with the certainty that he will give the water, he will give the growth. And we don’t reap the harvest. Another priest, another layperson, someone else, will do that. But we have the joy of sowing with out witness, because our words alone are not enough. Words without witness is simply hot air. Words simply aren’t enough.”
Pope Francis, 17 June 2013 (unauthorised translation)
Original: German. Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England
