Fr. Javier Arteaga. In life, when we are grateful it is because in our inner self we have recognized our need for others and, therefore, we ask for help. And this is a good starting point because this is our reality. We hear so much about personal independence and autonomy that we forget that we define ourselves more by our need for others in all orders (material and affective), than by quotas of absolute autonomy which we achieve. Independence converted in “God” is fulfilled with solitude (aloneness); on the contrary, the simple acceptance of our need for others is crowned, ultimately, with the companionship of others. That is the root and heart of “charity” and “solidarity.”
Behind a “thank you” is the appreciation for what has been received and for who has given it to us. It is well said that whoever is grateful lives with more joy,because he sees himself as benefited, “given a gift.” How good it is for us to be grateful! In fact, almost everything can be thanked for. Every day, with all one’s baggage, can be converted into a “gift” and into a reason for giving thanks; it all depends on which eyes and from which perspective we see life. Father Kentenich, in the Dachau Concentration Camp, in that “city of hate, madness and death” as he called it, prayed the morning prayer which said “We give you thanks for all the gifts which we have received in such abundance: for choosing Schoenstatt as the place of Christ’s rebirth and the place where you radiate into the world the glories of our Mother, so that streams of love may pour forth to warm cold hearts.”
What are we grateful for today? What do we ask forgiveness for today? And, for whom do we pray for today?
I know a family who, when their children were small, would gather in their Home Shrine for night prayer, and they always asked themselves three questions: “what are we grateful for today? What do we ask forgiveness for today? And, for whom do we pray for today? A simple but sure exercise of practical faith in Divine Providence to discover the presence of God in our life.
In this Jubilee Year, we celebrate 100 years of the first Covenant of Love, of that Covenant of the boys and Father Kentenich with the Blessed Virgin in the Schoenstatt Shrine. Let us be grateful and joyful for all which has been received in these 100 years, especially for the gift of the Covenant of Love, for following Christ in the footsteps of Father Kentenich, for the gift of brotherhood and for being a Family, for the mission received and shared, and especially for the gift of the Original Shrine.
Thank you for the life of Fr. Gunther Boll
Dear brothers and sisters, this journey of Covenant has been built throughout these 100 years through the generous surrender of many ardent hearts in love for the Mother Thrice Admirable. Allow me to express my gratitude to God for the life of Fr. Gunther Boll, a German Schoenstatt Father, who was ordained a priest in the Shrine of New Schoenstatt on the 20th of October 1963 and died this passed July 16th. A true son and ally of the Blessed Mother, faithful disciple of our Father and Founder and a tireless apostle of Schoenstatt. He visited Argentina many times, always giving us his vast wisdom in both the human and the divine, and with his warm priestly fatherliness. He helped us grow in love for Christ, Mary and the Church. He taught us to live the Covenant of Love. On the 40th anniversary of Father Kentenich’s return from exile, he said:
“These are the foundations on which Schoenstatt rests: the unshakeable foundation of the Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother and this inseparable interwovenness of destinies and fusion of hearts between the Founder and his Family. If we have gathered here today with the aim of reliving somewhat in ourselves what this event has brought and what it means for others, it is not simply to only look back and contemplate what happened at that time. Our Father, with his lively awareness of history, always counted on each retrospective look into the past, each attempt to relive the experience of a determined historical moment, to reaffirm at the same time, the permanent mission and to project the way toward the future. That is, I believe, what our Father and Founder wants to tell us today, at this time and in this place: Schoenstatt lives from the faith in the reality of the Covenant of Love and of the interwovenness of destines between the Founder and us, his Family. This is our way. We could ask the Mother Thrice Admirable: accompany us on our journey, we want to go forward!”
Dear brothers and sisters, in the image of Fr. Gunther and of so many brothers and sisters who preceded us in the Covenant, let us be grateful for the gifts received and may our gratitude express itself in a life commitment, especially committed for unity, to grow in missionary spirit and to go forth, sharing and proclaiming the Covenant of Love with Mary. And may our lived Covenant of Love help to illuminate and transform our society.
From the Shrine I send you cordial greetings and blessings,
Fr. José Javier Arteaga
Original: Spanish – Translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA 07242014
