IN A FEW WORDS, Fr. Joaquín Alliende Luco. Fr. Kentenich often emphasized a metaphor: “Schoenstatt is a mysterious realm,” born in a crib of its very own, the “O-r-i-g-i-n-a-l Shrine.” This is a place, a land, walls, a roof, a bell tower, an altar. All of ‘our originality’ issues from this spring of living water that our father and founder described as the “three graces of origin.” Joseph Kentenich did not invent this triad. He simply confirmed and listed it: “Rootedness,” “Transformation in Christ,” “Apostolic Mission.” He interpreted these three things based on what he saw come alive in the hero sodalists. And he confirmed it in the constant actions of our Mother as the Educator of the faith that many were baptised into.
These three names also relate to the three persons of the Holy Trinity: Rootedness and the Father. Transformation in Christ and the Word Incarnate. Apostolic mission and the Paraclete that urged the apostles to go out to the ends of the earth.
It is easy to misunderstand the first grace. In the early days, in Spanish we used to translate it as ‘shelter.’ About forty years ago, the term “the grace of rootedness” started becoming increasingly popular. ‘To be sheltered’ is something warm, it alludes to a mother’s lap and her very essence. It is beautiful, but it can be distorted into a paralysing warmth. “Rootedness” is deeper and broader. “Rootedness” comes from “root,” which strongly suggests that the plant’s very foundation will grow into a stalk which will in turn nourish the flower and the fruit. The fruit justifies the existence of the entire tree.
In a somewhat amusing anecdote, a woman with many years of apostolate behind her can be heard praying: “Mother, spend a little less time on the “shelter” part because many of us who are sheltered curl up and fall asleep. Hurry up with the ‘transformation,’ because we have grown lazy in our apostolic reach within the Church and the world, it does not burn with the words of the liturgy, that together with you, we should be “an army ready for battle.”
Fr. Joaquín Alliende L.
Translated from the Spanish by Sarah-Leah Pimentel, South Africa
