MEXICO, María Esther Aragón •
The situation we are going through today, is truly transcendental and has made us question many things and situations in our lives, but the flag with which we all march on this road, all of us who are Schoenstatters, is the Blessed Mother, our Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt. Why? Well, because she is the center, the queen, our way to God, to sanctity. It is a charisma that must be lived to understand it.—
Our course decided to prepare and join the crowning of the Blessed Mother as Queen of Health and Life on April 18th, the second time during the quarantine in which we celebrated the Covenant of Love. Roy, one of the members of the group, shared a phrase that motivated us: “Our home is where we can put the seed of sanctity in our children”.
Unique and special experiences in each family.
Roy and Cynthia, and their three children, had already crowned the Blessed Mother a few years ago. On that occasion, the priest who accompanied the Family Branch explained to the children the importance of Mary reigning in our home, making a comparison with what happens in the film “The Lion King”. When the king dies and Simba flees, everything is gray and chaotic, but when he returns and reigns, beauty and harmony returns as well. In the same way, when we do not have Mary and God near, our life can be a desert, but when the Virgin reigns and is the center of our home, life flows, it is beautiful, our home becomes an experience of beauty and harmony accompanies us. Now, with their children a few years older, they crowned her again as Queen of Health and Life.
Each person places his or her own needs in her crown.
Fernando and Mayra have three young children. To prepare, a few days before the coronation, they made the crowns, for the image of the Blessed Mother in the shrine and to the images that each one have in their rooms. This helped them to become aware of what it means to crown the Blessed Mother and why she is the queen. Each one asked themselves: How do I want to crown her? In my heart, what do I want her to reign in?
Although the image of the home shrine was crowned as Queen of Health and Life, each child in their room crowned his or hers according to their personal needs, as they were able to understand and desire.
We live the coronation in the reality of our daily lives.
Eduardo, Nayvi and their two children, who are very young, had a different experience, while they were listening to the mass, the children played around them with their carts. Every now and then they came closer, they paid a little attention, but soon they were back to keep on playing. They are children! It is difficult to have them sitting at home listening to a complete Mass, but, to their parent’s surprise, when they heard the Lord’s Prayer they approached, took them by the hand and prayed together. It was a very, very nice experience!
They were making their crowns when the older one realized there were only two and asked: Mom, what about Diego’s? She explained to him that there were only two images of the Blessed Mother… then, he ran to look in a drawer where he had seen one and he brought it for his younger brother, so that each one could make his own crown.
Long live Queen Mary Mother of Schoenstatt!
In a home full of love for her, which became her shrine more than four years ago, Hector, Alma and their three little children crowned the Blessed Mother during the beautiful coronation Mass in the Original Shrine on April 15th, (by the way, it was special to hear the Mass in so many languages and with songs that were unknown and at the same time known in their essence). The preparation for the event was fun and noisy: their one-year-old baby was walking and making excesses. The parents cutting out in the floor and designing with their daughters how to make the prettiest crowns and answering an endless number of restless, deep or funny questions that they formulated about such a long awaited event and the very different mass that they were living. Later on Saturday, April 18th, with more clarity of what it meant to crown her, they again reiterated what they had done the previous Wednesday and, full of humility, they consecrated her new mission as Queen of Unity, of Life and Health. As Schoenstatters, they are sure of her love and her commitment to the covenant, as on each occasion of need in which they have turned to her to be their intercessor before her beloved Son, to help them face these historic moments in which we all live a pandemic as never before, accompanied by an enormous impotence due to political, social and economic disorder. As her beloved children, they feel the need to leave in Mary’s hands the unity of the world and the health of humanity, as well as to protect, sanctify and touch the life of each one of them with her divine graces. Long live Queen Mary Mother of Schoenstatt!
In process, but always on the move!
Us, Luis and Maria Esther, have middle-aged children. Our son belongs to the Crusaders of Mary (Schoenstatt Boys) and for them to conquer is extremely important. The truth is that we did not prepare ourselves in time, we did not speak with our children, the day of the coronation arrived and we decided to leave it as a desire in our hearts, and to begin the road for her crowning looking for each one of our children to have their space, to manifest their needs and to look for what they want to do to achieve this conquest. The Mother reigns in our life, the Mother reigns in our home, even if she does not yet have her crown.
And just like that, each one of us, from our house, preparing ourselves according to the characteristics and needs of our family, crowned the Blessed Mother. She now reigns and is the center of our homes.
Original: Spanish 2020-04-25. Translated by: María Aragón, Monterrey, México.
