100 years, 100 house of solidarity “…with a few rags and a mountain of tenderness”

COVENANT SOLIDARITY, mda. “…The truth is that Mary is the one who knows how to transform a stable into a home for Jesus with a few rags and a mountain of tenderness…” A Schoenstatt Diocesan Priest has chosen this phrase from Pope Francis’ audience with the pilgrims of the Schoenstatt Movement, along with a photo of a woman and her child in her arms in very poor hut…There are more than 130 families who come from a life in huts of sticks and plastic and who will celebrate this Christmas in simple houses of brick and mortar, as a result of the voluntary work and 200 Euros each of solidarity and commitment. There are 130 houses that have been transformed into a home for Jesus and which are a gift of the Jubilee…

There are 130 Paraguayan families who now have a roof that shelters them, that protects them, safeguards them from inclement weather, and where they can also have the experience of a home.

The Project “100 Years – 100 Roofs in Solidarity”, a Jubilee gift for Holy Father Francis and the expression of covenant solidarity with him, born in smallness and from a “crazy idea”.  The project gained strength, and it reached its goal – furthermore, it surpassed its goal, THANKS to the generous support of many:  the Schoenstatt Shrines throughout the length and breadth of the world along with many Home Shrines found in businesses, families, Golden Anniversary “gifts”, Heart Shrines and many generous hearts (who remain nameless: but God who sees in secret will reward them).

Just when the desired 100 houses were completed, families around the Australian Shrines joined, and together they donated precisely eighteen houses…and houses donated in the context of a Golden Anniversary came together, houses given in gratitude of the support received for the editing of schoenstatt.org, houses given by shrines in South Africa, Germany, Argentina, Spain, and in the name of pastoral and missionary Projects…and the list goes on.

“I am so happy because the houses continue”, Mary Cole from England commented.  “It should continue”.  The gift for the Holy Father should continue the gift of those homes for the favorites of the Lord, his poorest children, from whom each day we learn to live the Gospel, exactly as Francis indicates to us with his words and gestures.

The 18^th of October is only a beginning…

On the 18^th of October, the collaborators of the project in Paraguay arrived tired and happy to the last covenant Mass after distributing bags with food to the families.  “Little Jubilee bags for our families.”  It was a joy to see the families cleaning their little houses.  “There the children, who with their smiles are the ones who give one the desire to continue and to continue even if the Jubilee has passed…” Ani Souberlich said. “We encountered a little grandfather on the road despite the heat coming from the street where he had been gathering cans and plastic that he will sell…I cannot describe his smile…”

They are our families

“I pray for our families every day,” someone who donated two or three houses commented.  “And it makes me so happy to recall when I visit my Shrine, that there is a house of solidarity with the name of this of this shrine, where a family can celebrate this Christmas beneath a firm roof…”

100 years ago, the Most Holy Virgin gave us a small abandoned chapel in the heart of Germany, a shrine that would become the home of our International Schoenstatt Family.  Every family needs and has the right to have a home.  More than 130 families have it now as fruit of a covenant culture that is created by solidarity, as Holy Father Francis said in the audience on the occasion of the centenary of the covenant of love.  And perhaps it is only the beginning.

100 families – 100 houses in solidarity

The initiative to build 100 houses in solidarity emerged from a small group of Schoenstatters committed to schoenstatt.org in search of expressing in deeds – along with prayer and offering in love in solidarity all their endeavors and tasks – their covenant in solidarity with Holy Father Francis sealed on May 31, 2013. The private initiative of one of them in the context of the Jubilee Year was of building, in the heart of Paraguay, the basic infrastructure for houses that could continue being built for their beneficiaries. This led them to the decision that the gift they could give to Holy Father Francis for this covenant in solidarity and with the support of friends and acquaintances was to give 100 basic homes to 100 families who live in extreme poverty. They will be the living remembrance of this Covenant of Love with Pope Francis and something that remains of the Covenant of Love’s 100^th Jubilee. The houses in solidarity carry the names of Daughter Shrines, Home Shrines and Heart Shrines as an expression of the “Jubilee step” which leads from the shrines to the peripheries to “shrine-ize” (Pope Francis) the world.

Original: Spanish. Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA

Our Shrine participates:

For Giro Payment

Ana Esperanza Souberlich Martinez
N° de cuenta: 7.0175419/0
BIC UBBRPYPX
Banco Itaú Paraguay S.A. Asuncion
Paraguay

For Giro Payment within SEPA (Europe)

A. Souberlich/M. Fischer

IBAN DE08400602650062268615
BIC GENODEM1DKM
Reason for payment: Protective Roof

Ask here for Information for money transfer via Moneygram

Address for more information or other ways to transfer money: donar@schoenstatt.org

This project is a jubilee project of the “schoenstatt.org dreamteam”, friends and visitors of schoenstatt.org and our jubilee gift to Pope Francis.

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