PORTUGAL, Fr. José Melo. Renewal is one of the characteristics of a jubilee. It is a returning to the roots to restore your strength and to flower again in due season, becoming more fully what you are. Spring is a good image for this creative vitality.
Being born again is also Jesus’ invitation to us each Easter. It does not mean returning to our mother’s womb, as Nicodemus said (Jn. 3:4), but to be renewed in the grace of baptism and to be reborn by the Spirit. This implies that something must die in order to be born to a new life, animated by the Holy Spirit and made in the image of Jesus.
As St. Paul tells us: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Eph. 4:22-24)
An interior process that accompanies to our growth
Renewal is an interior process that accompanies our growth as people, as family or communities. Sometimes circumstances force us or create new opportunities, sometimes it is the cyclical rhythm of our lives that compel us, or it can be a renewal that is born from the desire and the aspiration toward greater plenitude and sanctity.
But true renewal requires us to create a space in our soul, walk on the paths of silence and prayer and expand the heart through charity and selflessness. Only in this way, do we allow the Spirit of God to renew His presence in us.
Then interior renewal brings joy and fruitfulness, opens us up to life and to others, makes us grow and transforms us into instruments in God’s hands. Then we become witnesses of the resurrected Christ who tells us that “I make all things new” (Rev. 21.5)
Time for the renewal of the covenant of love
This is the time for renewal: renew our first love, renew the joy of living, renew the strength of our self-giving, renew the decision to follow Jesus, renew the ‘yes’ of our life that has been repeated so many times (to God, to others, to our life’s mission, etc). At its core, it is the opportunity to renew the interior sources that give us life.
At Easter during this Jubilee year, how does the Holy Spirit call us to renew in our lives?
As a Movement, this is a time to renew the covenant of love. In a special way, we want to do this through our pilgrimage to Fatima on May 4th and afterwards, in October, to Schoenstatt and Rome. Let us go!
Your covenant our mission
Source: www.schoenstatt.pt
Translated from the Portuguese by Sarah-Leah Pimentel
