GERMANY, Fr. Hans-Martin Samietz •
The base camp of Mont Everest in Nepal is located at an altitude of 5,364 meters. For climbers arriving there, the world has already changed tremendously. They are in the middle of a reality check: Am I well equipped? Will my body cooperate with the ascent? “Glutzeit”, the short spiritual news broadcast from the ranks of the Schoenstatt Youth, invites you to a special reality check. From March 7 to Easter, it will trace a spiritual path through 28 messages, at the end of which there will be the burning Easter candle. —
The pandemic is entering its second year, and so is “Glutzzeit”. Because they are connected. Because Schoenstatt’s projects are born in an open, attentive and courageous dialogue between the voices of the times and the voice of the original personal vocation.
Emergence of “Glutzeit” 2020 – a spiritual short message service
“Glutzeit” was an initiative of the German Schoenstatt Youth (SMJ) at the beginning of the first Lockdown 2020 in Germany. Behind “Glutzeit” is a short message broadcast with text, image and sound impulses for the spiritual formation of a continuous period of several weeks.
Still in December 2019, the Boys’ Youth Germany found its annual slogan for the year 2020: “Forging the future in the embers of the Founder.” The IGNIS crown that the Boys’ Youth Germany received from Emanuel Velasco (Boys’ Youth Mexico) in December 2019 did its part in finding this slogan.
“Forging the future in the embers of the Founder” – this was a really steep thesis for the year 2020, a year that on the one hand led every person on this planet into a time of most strenuous confrontation with the situation of a pandemic, and on the other hand, from July 2nd, caused the most heated debates to flare up in Schoenstatt about the importance of that very Founder.
Still untouched by the struggles about the meaning of Joseph Kentenich for the identity of a Schoenstatter today, the Boys’ Youth Germany gave birth with its annual slogan at the beginning of the pandemic year 2020, that is, “Glutzzeit”.
Towards an Easter without a church hall
After the launching of “Glutzeit” on March 21, 2020, more than 200 young adults from the Schoenstatt Youth quickly joined a WhatsApp group with the same name. They all quickly understood the then dawning time of something unfamiliar and unexpected as an opportunity for personal, spiritual growth. Many used the 21 days of shared impulses only occasionally. Others were more committed to the path envisioned in “Glutzeit” toward an Easter without a church.
In the end and through “Glutzeit”, some people gathered around small Easter fires on the morning of April 12, the day of Easter 2020, on their terraces, in their front yards, to celebrate together the praise of the sun rising on that April 12.
At that time, a family quickly sent me a message on Holy Saturday that they needed the final impulse of “Glutzeit” very early on Easter morning: “We would like to enjoy an Easter fire in our garden tomorrow morning. Is it possible to send the impulse out as early as 6am?” I then sent it out punctually on that Holy Saturday as soon as it got dark.
On the way to a new shape of church
“Glutzeit” shows we are on the way to a new shape of church, where a world in pandemic situation is on the way to a new order.
„Glutzeit“ also exists in 2021!
A warm invitation to join us on the journey! Through one of the invitation links, each young person will receive a daily impulse for a spiritual journey until Easter.
The pulses are sent via WhatsApp and Telegram group.
Here are the two invitation links to “Glutzeit 21”.
“You want to be part of the editorial team of Glutzeit 21? Send Eva Krumnacker, Fabian Mayer, Father Hans-Martin Samietz or Luca Riedl a message! There is the possibility to join the editorial team until March 20,” the invitation says. And to all, “We look forward with you to the coming weeks of Lent.”
Original: German. Translation: Lindsay Burger, Ohio, USA
