PARAGUAY, Sonia Zarate and José A. Zaracho •
Like every year, during the month of August, the Auxiliary MTA of the Encarnación Diocese visited Colonias Unidas. It is a colony composed of three cities: Hohenau, Obligado and Bella Vista, where descendants of German, Swiss, Belgians, Brazilian immigrants and those from other countries reside. She always brings us pleasant surprises on her visit here.
“Espigas de Amor’s” dream
A group of the Schoenstatt Family Branch, ESPIGAS DE AMOR [FRUITS OF LOVE], with seven couples, the majority with small children, had the great dream of having a Children’s Mass with the children being the protagonists with the Mass directed to them. They offered this petition for a long time to capital of grace with rosaries and in the families’ Home Shrines. Today on the seventh day of the Auxiliary’s visit, she told the group, “Today we begin, today is the day.” As a gift to the parish, Our Lady of Assumption, which celebrates its feast day on 15 August, the Blessed Mother brought approximately 100 children close to the picture of Our Lady of Assumption to tell her: Here we are; we are Mary’s youngest soldiers, and we joyfully and respectfully greet you. We want you to consider us because we know that God loves us, and we love Him. We want to know more about Jesus, and we want to be a part of this parish in order to fill it by Mary’s hand.
Today is the day!
For this reason, we say nothing happens by coincidence: the Blessed Mother has foreseen everything at the appropriate time. Little by little, she prepares the way by uniting people and hearts; she sees everyone’s commitment and self-giving. When she sees that everything is in order, she makes the mission known. Today is the day! It is the most beautiful gift that the Blessed Mother gave Our Lady of Assumption on the second day of the novena in preparation for her feast day.
A MTA wayside shrine is at this parish; it is located at the entrance of the church grounds and both titles intertwine their gazes, since the picture of Our Lady of the Assumption is in front of the church. Does it not seem that it is a sign of the present time, in which Mary, spouse of the Church, is speaking to us and is constantly admonishing us to “Do what he tells you”? Thus for the FRUITS OF LOVE, it is not pure coincidence, instead it is the beginning of a great apostolate– the celebration of a monthly Children’s Mass in Colonias Unidas.
Celebrating with Jesus and Mary
We stress the great support of the parish priest, Fr. Mateo José SVD, who opened the parish at a special time so the children could participate in this celebration with Jesus and Mary. This took place at 11:00 a.m., and it was the third Mass celebrated on Sunday, and because of this, we gave Fr. Mateo our complete support and prayers, so he can continue with this very important vocation for Christians, which is celebrating the Eucharist.
