GERMANY, fma. It is a subject we have actually wanted to discuss for ages, but it was repeatedly passed over in favour of something else: Dealing with pressure. Experiences at the Jour Fixe for leaders in Germany and Switzerland, requests from the circle of the International Kentenich Academy for Leaders, as well as projects of individual members, made it clear that dealing with pressure was the next subject that had to be dealt with. It was so necessary that at the end of the conference of the IKAF it was obvious that dealing with pressure would also be the subject for the next Jour Fixe for leaders on 16 November 2013 in Memholz.
A total of 26 people from Switzerland and the whole of Germany met from 11-13 October in the Schoenstatt Centre in Memholz. As a result of work and/or traffic congestion people were arriving until late in the evening and then the early morning, as happened to Sabine and Martin Merdes. In view of the unending tailbacks they decided to turn off the motorway and start again in the early morning. “That’s the wonderful thing about the IKAF, no one looks at you askance if you arrive in the morning instead of the evening. And you are quickly into the subject …” And make a contribution. The catchword: “Take the next exit if the pressure becomes too great”, was quoted again and again that weekend.
Success of the week
The proven introduction with accounts of “the success of the week” at work or at home marked the climate from the first. The most recent research shows that the piece of chocolate that has fallen onto the ground hurts more than the gift of two slabs of chocolate gives pleasure. … Here, as has happened each time at the IKAF, we had reached a turning-point: merely hearing about the success of the others brings our own successes to mind, although they had been hidden by some failure or other. When it is finally our turn we can pass on not one, but five or six examples. Afterwards the programme of the two following days is made up of successful experiences in everyday life at work, and questions that are grouped – more or less – around the subject of Pressure and Coping. Each one knows that at the end they will go home with a number of new examples, models and inspirations arising from successful life-processes, and that our own questions, and a number of others, will have been clarified, traced back to the principles of Fr Kentenich’s pedagogy, and as a result can be applied in many different ways.
Pencil lead or diamond
The main speakers at this conference, Fr Leonhard Erhard and Maria Fischer, tackled the subject of pressure in principle from its origin and its different sound or unsound effects; and in practice from the effects of having too much or too little “to do”. Fr Erhard took as his starting point the stress of perfectionism that can become an obsession, and that isolates us, because there are no perfect people. Relaxing: Without sound pressure we lose our thread and thrust. Liberating: Whoever can block out distractions will get rid of a great deal of pressure. Challenging: A competitive attitude not just in business, which makes people feel attacked on all sides, can only be overcome through solidarity. And finally, also the obsession with relaxation can become a pressure from which we have to free ourselves. Helpful: We may count upon a subsidy from God. And: Pressure decides whether carbon is turned into pencil lead or a diamond.
Pope Francis’ sermon on the good Samaritan opened our horizons: Who or what do we leave lying at the side of the road, because we are in a hurry, have a duty to do something, or don’t want to miss an appointment? What do we do absolutely perfectly, and still wrongly, when we no longer see what is more important than all the expectations we believe others and we ourselves have to fulfil?
Rosary of Light in union with Pope Francis and Marian Shrines throughout the world
That weekend there was the so-called “Marian Day” in Rome, one of the big celebrations in the Year of Faith. On the evening of 12 October eleven great Marian Shrines in Europe, Africa, Asia and America were invited to network with the Roman Marian Shrine of Divino Amore and pray the Rosary in preparation for the consecration of all the people of the world to the Blessed Mother the following day. The participants at the conference of the International Kentenich Academy for Leaders, and a course of the Schoenstatt Women’s Federation, which was meeting in the house, spontaneously came together and entered into this world day of prayer by means of the Rosary of Light. In the background there was a live broadcast from the various shrines: Lourdes, Czestochowa, Banneux, Aparecida, Lujan … Some who at first could do nothing with the Rosary nevertheless entered into the spirit of the moment and were surprised that it could become so alive and personal when each Hail Mary is connected with a real person – and what it did to us personally if we gave a rose for actual staff members, superiors or customers, and lit a candle while the others prayed for them.
At the end of the Rosary of Light the International Pilgrim Mother picture received a new plaque in gratitude for her visit to Switzerland in Spring this year. The following day she immediately set off again to Salach.
Jubilee 2014
On Sunday morning, only a few days before the opening of the Jubilee Year, Melanie and Ulrich Grauert asked: What is the IKAF doing for the Jubilee? This was discussed for a bit, then we said: It’s about time! All that we had experienced, and the observations we had collected, since the foundation of the IKAF in May 2009 had proved its worth. We had also applied it in many and varied ways, and it had found expression in projects such as the Jour Fixe and our everyday lives as leaders. The testing phase had passed. The model is ready for the market. We will place what we have worked out at the disposal of everyone. How? By writing down what we had worked out as successful experiences and the answers to questions, and making them available. This was immediately tried out with the final card on the presentation wall: “The conversation with my wife”. It was worked through in exactly the same way as usual – but with the agreement that it would be recorded and soon made available. The best from the IKAF for all.
Two who had attended the Conference 2014 looked at each other. It was exactly what the representatives from 33 countries had wanted; it was the jubilee step that had to be taken: what is ours for all. Our model was ready for the market. It can and must go out onto the streets. 2014 and afterwards.
The joy that broke through on the way to the shrine showed: That is the jubilee step to take.
Jour Fixe zum Thema: Umgang mit Druck am 16.11.2013.
 |
| October 16, 2013 – IKAF Memhölz |
