ARGENTINA/CHILE, Marcos Tejada. My Mary’s Crusade began about a year ago when our Branch adviser, Father José María Iturrería, brought together a few of the members of the Boys’ Youth from Mendoza to be a part of the organizational team at the conclusion of the Via Jesum University Missions. It was at this time that emotions from such an experience of love only for our beloved MTA began to materialize!
Time passed and I was already part of the team, with which we began to work to accomplish this madness of love together. My task was with the general infrastructure, but for professional reasons, I was put in charge of building the wayside shrine! The plan was to build it in two stages; the first stage would be to set up the entire wayside shrine structure without the image of the Blessed Mother leaving the place for the “Ark of the Centenary” ready for the day when all the crusaders were there. The second stage was to adhere the image and the stones from the countries participating in the Crusade, as well as have the blessing of the wayside shrine on the day that the pilgrimage of Mary’s Crusade climbed to Christ the Redeemer.
A third stage is needed
The workdays during the first stage were not easy because of the weather, among other things, but the Blessed Mother never left us alone. She always helped us in everything! Things developed in their own time and in the best way. Everything was a ten until the day of the second stage, because of weather factors, the adhesive that we used to place the picture took longer to dry than we anticipated, which made everything that was lacking fall behind schedule (placing the “Ark of the Centenary” and gluing the stones from the countries).
Along with Father José María Iturrería, we decided that we would finish what was lacking at the wayside shrine after Mary’s Crusade in order to do it in optimal conditions. Circumstances allowed us to finish the wayside on the same day that our Argentinean and Chilean brothers went on pilgrimage to Her.
Mario Hiriart’s dream
The day the wayside shrine was blessed was very touching for me when I became aware of the meaning that this wayside shrine in this location has for everyone, and especially for Mario Hiriat who always yearned to build a shrine in the Andes, a symbol of the unity of our people and of hearts, and the triumph that the Blessed Mother’s will obtain through her instruments.
Personally, it was and will be a source of great pride for me to have been a part of such a wonderful presentation to the Blessed Mother. Today when I say that one of my favorite places in the world is almost 4,000 meters in height close to Christ the Redeemer, undoubtedly this place is the wayside shrine!
The petitions and offering of hundreds of pilgrims from allover the world
All the letters with prayers and petitions from the pilgrims across the length and the breadth of the world, who accompanied the Crusade with their prayers, are also in the “Ark of the Centenary.” Moreover there is a document that Father Claudio Martínez Cohen left of the first Crusade of Mary carried out in 1999 that is signed by all the participants, as well as the documents of the “Missionary Generation” of the International Boys’ Youth and the prayer of the blessing of the Wayside Shrine of the Virgin signed by all the pilgrim Crusaders of 2014. Lastly, they also left a piece of the wood from the door of the Original Shrine in “The Ark”, as a symbol of unity with the Source of Original Graces.
The “Ark of the Centenary” remained within the Wayside Shrine, and we hope to open it again on the 100th Anniversary of May 31st, 1949 and on the 50th Anniversary of the 1st Mary’s Crusade that took place in 1999.
Original Spanish: Translation Celina M. Garza San Antonio, TX USA
