COSTA RICA, mda. It was one of the most exciting moments throughout the days of CIEES 2013 (Second Ibero-American Congress of Schoenstatt Businessmen and Executives) in Costa Rica. During a break between conferences, one of the participants from Costa Rica approached and presented a signed card with his name to a surprised Peruvian, a Swiss, an Argentinean, and to a Spaniard…: “I prayed for you, every day for nine days. Just for you, for your business, for your work, for your family…” At the end of the congress, each one of the participants had one or two of these cards, a lump in their throat and a bond that will not be broken…The entire Schoenstatt Family from Costa Rica assumed the project of being hosts for the Second Ibero-American Congress for Businessmen and Executives, and each one from his/her assumed tasks – registration, lodging with families or hotel, logistics, pre- and post- programs… carried it out in the best possible way. Schoenstatt Costa Rica was CIEES 2013. When an entire national Schoenstatt Family makes a project like this Congress their own something changes…
It had already begun at the airport. A smiling man with a poster with the logo of CIEES 2013 waited for three participants for the congress at 5:00 a.m., and he continued to wait for the others who arrived throughtout the course of the day. Meanwhile the recent arrivials traveled by taxi to the hotel, where they could check-in hours before the scheduled time. Everything was arranged by the members of the Schoenstatt Family from Costa Rica, who from their tasks did everything possible and a little more so that each one of the participants who arrived in the country would feel welcomed and received with affection by this Schoenstatt Family, who made the honor of being hosts of the Congress a task with a contagious attitude of service and joy. The participants were welcomed in the lobby of the hotel with a picture of the Blessed Mother, a little box labeled with the logo of the Congress containing candy inside accompanied by smiles and embraces from Catalina and Richard (“What a joy to meet you personally!”), the spontaneous and well organized city tours or encounters at the headquarters. Everything made it feel that one was not only arriving at a congress; but rather, to the living shrine of a family, who was committed and enthusiastic about this project they carried out.
A reflection of what it is to live the covenant of love in daily life
It is noteworthy. “Dear friends, the Second International Congress of CIEES has given us, the Peruvians, an example of life through the Costa Rican family, who have been loyal reflections of what it is to live the covenant of love in daily life, by first conquering the heart Shrine. Thank you Costa Rica for being an instrument of motivation for the continuity of CIEES,” commented Coco Arteta from Peru, a few days after returning to her country. Christian Ketterer, from Chile, said: “Thank you brothers/sisters from Costa Rica for allowing us to live such a communitarian and blessed experience. For Melanie and Ullie Grauert from Switzerland, it was “another Schoenstatt and the experience of being with friends we had never seen, but with whom we felt at home and as if we had always known them…”
“For us it was a very enriching experience to have everyone in Costa Rica. We know that they were moments of true blessing that we will remember and enjoy,” commented Marianella Coto along with her husband Manuel Emilio Montero (one of the presenters of the Congress), diocesan coordinators.
In an attitude of joyful service
“Tell me Rudi,” Ulli Grauert said on Monday night, the 11th, when after celebrating until late afternoon with the Costa Rican family at the Headquarters with a Mass, marriage covenant, wine and food, (“and all this without previous notice on our part”) as if “by Magic” Rudi Sauter appears with his car to take the Swiss to their hotel; “Tell me, Rudi, do you also work?” The response with a smile:”Yes, when there is no congress, we work.” We took vacation to welcome those who came to the congress…This was the experience during the days before, during and after the congress. It never failed: cars, chauffeurs, cell phones, calls, meals, drinks, adapters, missals, books…always seemed to appear from nowhere just at the right time…and more than anything embraces, smiles, words of welcome, invitations to Masses, to homes, to swimming pools, an interesting exchange with a phrase “to Schoenstatt” invented one night on the beach when the exchanges about the congress, the jubilee, the covenant, the apostolate and what Schoenstatt and the attachments in covenant mean for each one did not end…
It is not a “sacrifice”; it is noticeable that the joy of the encounter is as much for the “ticos” (those from Costa Rica) as it is for the foreigners. “After spending more than three days together, we miss the joys, the comments and presentations of all of you. The shared experiences, the workshops and the moments of bonding were extraordinary. We have a great number of memories in the many photographs and videos of CIEES 2013,” Rudi Sauter wrote to the participants, to those who sent the links for the texts and other materials from the congress.
Mediators of grace for one another
After a brief visit to the Movement Headquarters, a family encounter was prepared for the participants who arrived early on Thursday in Coronado, a mountainous region close to San José, at a hacienda of a Schoenstatt Family. There was no program, and it was not necessary. Between snacks, wine and barbeque prepared by the owners of the house, there were moments of visiting, re-encounter after several years or after just knowing each other via email…They were happy and touching moments. “I never thought that we would see each other again precisely in Costa Rica”, someone commented. Argentineans, Swiss, Spaniards and Germans, Chileans and “ticos” mingled, exchanged pleasantries, joked, and renewed the world…
Everything ended in a Holy Mass in the home of the hosts, con-celebrated by the priests who were present: Father Guillermo Muzquiz, Father Rafael Fernández, Father José María García, and Father Guillermo Carmona. The main celebrant, Father Guillermo Carmona, invited everyone to sit among friends in a large circle around the altar to share the presence of Jesus in this Holy Mass, in the midst of his brothers/sisters, who seek a better world from their vocation as businessmen and executives. Departing from the three graces of the Shrine, he pointed out the sacramentality of the meeting with brothers/sisters, to the sacrmentality of each brother/sister from the heart shrine. He said, the celebration of Mary, mediator of the graces, reminds us that each one of us is also a mediator of graces for one another, and he invited them to think, to recall, and to express gratitude:
Who was and is my mediator of graces for me?
For whom have I been and am a mediator of graces?
Closing with a Mass as a family and on the beach
It could be no other way: the final Mass of the Congress was the Mass of the Schoenstatt Family from Costa Rica celebrated at the Headquarters of the Movement; it was a Mass, which was once again con-celebrated by the four Schoenstatt Fathers, who participated in the Congress; it was a Mass filled with families, children, joys and encounters.
Then, for those who had time, there was a trip to the beach, where the homes of some of the family members were opened to welcome everyone…for a time of rest, of visiting, and since it could not be any other way – to make plans and to dream…
Many say that it is not a coincidence that the altarpiece of the future daughter shrine of Costa Rica arrived precisely during the days of the congress.
Thank you, Costa Rica
Thank you, Costa Rica. The farewell was full of much gratitude, emotion, nostalgia…and an “until next time.” The Congress was in fact an important step, a milestone, on Schoenstatt’s pilgrimage in the grace of 2014, toward the second century of its history. And this small country of Costa Rica has conquered a place in the hearts of many Schoenstatters from allover the world.
“In Costa Rica we call those who have the same name as ours “tocayo”, so, moreover, you are my “tocaya” (namesake) wrote Mercedes Sanjuan, one of the participants.
Costa Rica, you are our “namesake” for those of who participated. Thank you.
Original: Spanish – Translation Celina M. Garza San Antonio, Texas USA
