Sarah-Leah Pimentel. During a recent meeting of the Schoenstatt Women’s League, one of our members shared the following quote by Barack Obama: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Too often we complain about everything that is wrong in our society, in our workplaces, our communities and our homes. A lot of what we complain about is legitimate – we can see the moral degeneration of our society when we turn on the TV, speak to our young people or see the high rate of divorce and the breakdown of our families. Complaining about it is easy. Doing something about it is another story. This is perhaps why Barack Obama’s statement caught our attention. We cannot wait for a hero to come out of a fairy tale and right the wrongs of our society. Each one of us is called to be the change we want to see – no matter how unworthy or insignificant we may think we are.
Pre-founding Document
For us in Schoenstatt, this is not a new concept. Fr. Kentenich was already speaking about the new person in the new society in the early days of the Schoenstatt Movement. Already in the pre-founding document of 1912, he was able to recognise that “firm, free, priestly personalities” were needed to counter a society in which people were not encouraged to think for themselves. This new kind of person places himself under the protection of the Blessed Mother and through self-education allows himself to be transformed in God’s grace. If this transformation is genuine, then it must spill out into everything that we do, everything we are and everything we stand for. This is how we become the “change that we seek.”
The letter from Santa Maria
On 15 April 1948, Fr. Kentenich wrote a letter from Santa Maria in Brazil, in which he stresses the need for strong families, because it is from within the family that a whole society is built. Here are some excerpts from that letter:
“Our present-day world, however, which brings about the uprooting of stable living conditions everywhere, shows its destructive effects most fully within the sanctuary of the family. If our Blessed Mother wants to create a new human society and a new person from Schoenstatt, she must necessarily concentrate all her power and graces on creating and increasing strong Schoenstatt Families.” (…)
“Whoever knows life today, whoever knows what terrible catastrophes are approaching for the world and Church, must be deeply convinced that the entire Schoenstatt Family, as a whole and in its individual parts, will not be able to carry out its mission unless every effort and ability is directed towards creating holy Schoenstatt family islands, which increasingly unite to form a single Family Movement.” (…)
“Therefore, let us unite and pray fervently for a new and effective miracle of transformation. Take our Lady’s picture with you and give her a place of honour in your homes. These will then become little shrines in which the picture of grace will mediate grace, create a holy family and form holy members of the family.
In the Founding Document our Blessed Mother promised to see to it that our country should again be placed at the head of the Western world. We now know that this can only be achieved if we create holy Schoenstatt family islands. The MTA will carry out her promise if we carry out the conditions laid down in the Founding Document.”
(The Letter from Santa Maria of 15 April 1948)
What kind of transformation does my family need?
These words touch us a strongly today as they did 63 years ago. The moral degeneration in our society is a result of the loss of values in our families and in the value that we give to family life. As a Schoenstatt Family we are called to counter this trend we see in our society. We are called to strong family life and the restoration of moral and religious values. In return our Blessed Mother will be faithful to the promise made in Schoenstatt’s Founding Document: “Then from here I will draw youthful hearts to myself and educate them to become useful instruments in my hand.” (First Founding Document, 18 October 1914)
Perhaps in the last week of Lent as we look forward eagerly to the new life that we celebrate at the resurrection of our Saviour on Easter Sunday, we are asked to reflect on our own families. What kind of transformation does my family need if it is to stand as a beacon for those who come into our homes? What has been broken that needs fixing? Which values can I reinforce in my family? How can my family be the change that I want to see in my society?
