Quedamos

Posted On 2022-03-26 In Projects, Schoenstatt - Reaching out

Shall we meet?

SPAIN, Miguel Lasso de la Vega •

In their faces we saw happiness and gratitude for what they had received, and our hearts were inflamed with satisfaction for having been instruments of Mary’s educational work. —

Thus, we closed on Friday, February 4, in the Parish Church of Santa Maravillas de Jesús in Madrid the fourth edition of the project “¿Quedamos?”, Shall we meet, which had been interrupted because of the Covid-19 pandemic exactly two years ago and has now returned with renewed enthusiasm and joy.

“Shall we meet?” is an activity for couples that the Schoenstatt spirituality wants to give to the Church. It is Schoenstatt going out to the parishes to which it wants to give something of its originality, without expecting a return, because it is based on the collaboration and participation of those parish priests and parishioners who want to make the project their own.

A time for reunion

It is a simple approach, which only aims to ensure that in two and a half hours a married couple leaves their daily routines, the usual concerns, and focuses on themselves and on each of the spouses. It is a time for the reunion and renewal of married love, through different and measured motivations and surprises, with an open heart, creating a special atmosphere of confidence between hosts, organizers, and guests.

Four couples from the Schoenstatt Movement in Madrid designed this project, based on similar experiences in Chile, which is being enriched with each edition, and to which enthusiastic collaborators from the parishes that have received “Shall we meet?” This sign gives us the growing confidence that behind it is the hand of Mary and the action of the Holy Spirit.

The key: The pastor and at least two couples from the parish community

The pastor and at least two couples from the parish community were the key to gaining the confidence of the fifteen couples who were encouraged to live this night for the two of them and to reaffirm their vows. Without them it would not have been feasible, and it is they whom the invited couples made responsible for this gift from the Lord, leaving us in the background.

“What you have received freely, give freely,” the pastor told us in the words of Jesus, encouraging the participants to become witnesses of hope for others, transmitters, and possible collaborators of future “Shall we meet?” in their own parish.

Back in our homes, with our souls full, we always receive more than we give, the pastor wrote: “the couples served have given signs of gratitude, but also of conversion of heart. Certainly, the Lord passed by and that always marks a before and an after. I hope and wish to be able to repeat it”.

Quedamos

Original: Spanish, 08.03.2022. Translation: Maria Fischer @Schoenstatt.org

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