ARGENTINA, Mariela Reche. The youth pilgrimage was a profession of faith and a song of hope; the arrival, an encounter of love in the arms of the Blessed Mother. We offer that it be experienced through the testimonies and stories of the participants.
Beginning of the pilgrimage:
Diego, organizer: “The organization was long; it is the first time that I experience it from within. The boys come to the pilgrimage with the desire to share, but on the walk they realize something else– that Mary accompanies them.”
Police Academy Students: “It is first time that we are making the pilgrimage because we want to know what happens and to learn from it. In other words, we expect something from Mary.”
María de los Ángeles, adult, collaborator from the Cathedral: “Today I am serving breakfast to the young boys for love of neighbor and selfless service to my community. I try to fulfill the mission that the Pope has asked of us: to go out to the outskirts and take the Gospel.”
Agustín, 14 years-old: “A friend invited me, it is the first time that I am doing it and I feel something very strong, I have never experienced anything like this”.
Lidia, mother of two teenagers: “I am a catechist, and I am here because I love Mary. I trust that She will intercede for us and I pray that we do not separate from Her, that she always be our sweet companion. I identify with her as a mother, that is why I brought my children, Leonel and Camila, I educate them in the faith so that they can accomplish everything and I always try to actively participate in the Church.”
After the pilgrimage
Micaela, Saint Joseph’s Parish: “This encounter gave me much joy; I liked sharing things with other youths. It made me want to take another initiative and to do something for the Church.”
Sofía, Saint Joseph’s Parish: “I was very happy to see so many youths. It is the first time that I did it and I will do it again”.
Mariela, mother of an adolescent: “To see my son among so many youths manifesting faith was something very important for me. I prayed that he would be touched by this joy of knowing he is close to Mary and of God. Time will tell…”
Julieta: “It is the first time that I did it and the experience was very good, it gave me great love and unity. I did not experience the individualism as on other occasions. From now on I will foster communication, understanding and unity in communion.”
Sebastián, from Immaculate Conception Parish: “This year was the tenth year since my first pilgrimage and in a different way I was able to experience, but no less intense, from the organization. I was in charge of welcoming the youths in the city of Tafí Viejo (Tucumán), I was not prepared for this, but asked Mary for her help and the words came.”
Members of the Schoenstatt Family
Aída Palazzo, Member of the Family Apostolic League: “This afternoon remained etched in my heart and that of my husband Ramón, because we felt that the dream of the Father and Founder had been fulfilled: Schoenstatt in the Church, of the Church and for the Church. It was impressive to perceive and to share the fervor, the respect and the veneration for the Blessed Mother.”
María Perinotti, Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth: “I made the pilgrimage because it interests me to go out into the street to manifest love for Mary.”
Padre Guillermo Mario Cassone, Coordinator of the Regional Movement: “It was a true Jubilee experience, joyful youths who embraced the Virgin’s mantle without noticing from which community it came, and they sealed a covenant of love with her. The Schoenstatt Family welcoming her with open arms is a missionary family, and a creative result: a larger Schoenstatt presence in the Church, a great offering for the Jubilee, a Shrine with open doors. As a gift, the Pope’s message and that of our archbishop to the youths and to the entire Schoenstatt Family.”
Julio Saguier: Collaborator of the Family Apostolic League: “The pilgrimage on Sunday allowed me to relive that young faith that marked my heart through the participation of my sons, the life decision to always seek to be ‘preachers of the faith’. Also to observe the maturity of the Schoenstatt Movement expressed in its pastoral integration to the Church in Tucumán. Everyone in the Shrine and the Shrine for everyone. This ecclesial unity is the best testimony of the maturity of faith.”
Silvia Losada, Rosary Campaign: “Everything that we experienced today showed us that the future is promising. The Shrine filled with youths, the Schoenstatt Family from Tucumán worked unitedly; along with our renewal of the covenant, it was a demonstration Schoenstatt can offer itself to the Church and the world just as Father Joseph Kentenich wanted.
Agustín Cervera, Daybreakers: When the candles were lighted, it reminded me of the Shrine of the Virgin of Fatima in Portugal. This celebration put the entire Family in motion, in the homes as well as on the grounds. One could not distinguish if they were youths, mothers, couples, Campaign, guardians, Daybreakers, federation, members, collaborators of the League, or other movements. Many on this day learned about the Shrine and surely they will return, because now they are allies and brothers/sisters in the Blessed Mother.
Social Networks
“The #pere2014_sch. was truly good.” Offering a different kind of service, but service after all! What is more proud than to take her, who guides us, on this walk…very exciting, the best #parami: adoration…One question, it is too son, but good…on the next one will we return to a decrease? I ask, because I do not know if someone else noticed: the arrival was very different, the atmosphere was different. Did it have to do with the place? Or did God already have it planned…the peace, the tranquility, the satisfaction that was experienced upon entering Schoenstatt. Unique…I had never experienced it…without words…!
On the horizon of the Jubilee
Father Tomás Dell´Oca, advisor of the Boys’ Youth: “The youth pilgrimage was a very important experience, on one hand, I believe it was giving the Blessed Mother, in these one hundred years of covenant, the experience of opening the Shrine, opening our house, of taking her to so many hearts of so many youths…that is what the Shrine asks: that the sending forth become a reality. The Covenant of Love is not for us; but more importantly, it is to give it the entire world. In the Founding Document, she promised us that she would attract youthful hearts to the Shrine, and for this the contribution of each one of us is necessary. I believe that the diocesan youths experience was precisely to make what the Blessed Mother promised in the founding document a reality. Young hearts that are on fire for Her, young hearts that walked for her and with her. And on the other hand, the experience as a Schoenstatt Family, that united us behind a task, a mission, behind the profound love that we have for the Blessed Mother. It was a great joy to see all the Movement branches and works working together with profound joy and emotion. I believe that the most beautiful thing was to arrive walking to the Shrine and to see the faces of the Movement people, seeing so many youths who approached. I believe that in these one hundred years of the Covenant of Love we can say that we experienced that the mystery of the Covenant of Love is the mystery of the Founding Document with the pilgrimage.”
VIDEO
Original: Spanish – Translation: Celina M. Garza, San Antonio, TX USA
