org. There are Tabor hours in Schoenstatt – hours in which Schoenstatt shows its most beautiful face, its most beautiful soul; hours in which the best finds spontaneous expression from the depths of its charism and its experience of its origins. We can be sure that Conference 2014 was one such moment. Another such moment was the news of 20 February this year and the days that followed, which could have unleashed only suffering and insecurity. “I am really impressed by the echo to the news of my illness, and of my having to give up the leadership tasks for 2014 which followed from it,” remarked Fr José María García during a conversation with schoenstatt.org. “It has made me aware of the tremendous potential for the renewal of life that exists in our worldwide Family when it is challenged to offer and make great sacrifices, whether on the grounds of health, limitations or inabilities.” This has given rise to an equally simple and brilliant initiative motivated by the original spirit and the spirit of 2014: Covenant solidarity, contributions in the covenant, a definite covenant between those responsible for tasks in preparing for the jubilee, and those responsible for sacrifice, offers and contributions. These are as practical and personal as the covenant itself. The covenant, in this instance a covenant of brothers and sisters in the service of the mission and the projects in which the mission becomes tangible.
Org: Your letter to the Family has set off a real wave of prayer and commitment – for you and for the mission of 2014, which you represent and embody. Many have quoted the following sentences: “She relies on us despite our weaknesses, or even just because, like her, we experience that we are small in the face of our mission. That is the seal set on a work of God. Since we know and experience that we never live at the heights of the mission entrusted to us, and never will, we accept each day anew and consecrate to her what we have, what we are able to do, what we do, and what remains to be done. She is the one who brings about great things through her covenant partners. She doesn’t want any other covenant partners than us.” In it they have discovered a challenge, a new vision of their own limitations and weaknesses. One of the first answers came from Chile, “I (and my group) unite ourselves with the prayers and are available to bring all the contributions to the capital of grace for 2014 to Schoenstatt, so that, restored to health, Father José María can personally place them as a gift at Fr Kentenich’s grave. … No doubt we are breathing a covenant culture. My mother (91) writes down the decades of the Rosary she prays for Fr José María. She said, ‘Now I am also doing something for your 2014…'”
Fr. José María García: It impresses me deeply and I think that, since the Blessed Mother has opened this door so widely through my situation, we should go a step further and create an area on schoenstatt.org and schoenstatt2014.org for the spiritual “support in solidarity” with contributions to the capital of grace through the offer of suffering or illness for those who experience “a lack of means and courage” in their work for 2014. That is working for a covenant culture in a way that is really radical, that is, coming from the roots – and I say this because I personally see myself as a member of this commission of sacrifice in the covenant. For every limitation of means – of personnel, of materials, of attitudes, of answers to all our efforts, of time and strength – we have people who feel responsible for them through their contributions and sacrifices in the covenant … I am thinking of a definite, personal covenant between the leaders of the organisation, the programme, the tents, the communication, the projects, and those who have accepted the area of sacrifice and contributions …
Org.The circle of closest collaborators in schoenstatt.org has rapidly become members of this commission for sacrifice and contributions – and they have done so with incredible enthusiasm. At the same time we have almost effortlessly doubled our commitment to the work. Your idea is unadulterated Schoenstatt, and something that has repeatedly cropped up on schoenstatt.org, for example, for the earthquake in Haiti or Chile.
Fr. José María García: It is actually something very simple and it avoids the danger of a purely theoretical or intellectual understanding of the covenant of love. It is completely in line with our Fr Kentenich’s thinking, and the idea of offering ourselves for one another, the interweaving of destinies, which he saw and lived so tangibly especially in Dachau and at his return from Milwaukee. I think that there is a real longing for the capital of grace in our Schoenstatt Family, for the possibility to give everything a transcendent, apostolic and missionary meaning, and to be able to move something through our own situation of illness, suffering and all sorts of limitations. There is also this awareness that we are not powerless when faced with the need of a person who is important to us, and that we have the possibility to do something when we actually can do nothing, humanly speaking.
Org. Your suggestion is so simple, and hence really brilliant, Fr José María. It is what Fr Kentenich prayed in Heavenwards, “What you are and do affects them …” If I acknowledge that what I am and how I live affects someone else, it motivates me to grow – for these people. So actually you aren’t the author of this idea, Fr José María; it comes from Fr Kentenich himself. There is a story in the MTA magazine. Fr Kentenich suggested to the young students in the College, who were suffering because they could not set off to support the older members in their apostolate in the trenches, that they could enter into a personal covenant with the Schoenstatt Sodalists at the front. There is a letter from one of the soldiers who wrote that the zeal with which his young covenant partner studied the subject he found so difficult, motivated him to make greater efforts in the apostolate, “in order not to waste so much zeal.” I believe that with this commission of “sacrifices and contributions in the covenant” we at the heart of Schoenstatt’s original spirit.
Fr. José María: We did something similar at the Conference 2014 when we divided the days of the conference among the various groupings in the Family. On one of the difficult days of the conference, one of our team activated a page of the Young Men in Brazil whose turn it was to pray for us, and he could see their prayers and contributions on the web page. He logged in and wrote that we urgently needed their contributions at that moment. The answer was amazing – and effective. At that moment the young men in Brazil became participants at the conference. Just as in this instance, there are many tasks, projects and activities in our Family that are very quiet, but effective, expressions of this form of “covenant solidarity”.
Org.“I am now continuing my pilgrimage in a different way, but with the same attitude and with the same goal.” This sentence from your letter points to something essential in this covenant, which is your chief concern. What is happening to you – that you are suddenly on the “offer side” of the covenant – can happen to everyone. They have to change direction completely, and then continue on their pilgrimage “in the covenant”, bringing their contribution in another way, but with the same attitude and for the same goal. We can also be on both sides by giving and offering our all for someone and his mission, and at the same time carrying out a task while hoping that someone will support us in this work with their contributions and offerings. Recently we found a testimony to this covenant solidarity among the prayers sent in to the Original Shrine. It was written by a Pilgrim Mother missionary: “Blessed Mother, I offer you my abilities and talents, as well as my weaknesses. May they serve the pilgrimage to the jubilee 2014. …”
Fr. José María. As a covenanted Family we are on pilgrimage in this spirit to 2014, and in the process bear witness to covenant solidarity. We are all part of 2014, we are all organising 2014, we are all on pilgrimage to 2014 – with the contributions we bring. I believe that once the Blessed Mother has opened this door through my situation, we can extend it to all who work in the various teams and working groups, and who make their contributions. … Let us now create the “sacrificial route” in the covenant for all those who are committed to working directly for 2014, either in Schoenstatt or in other countries.
We will then live in the covenant with Mary in our shrines, in the covenant with one another, and, as our Founder longed his Family to do, we will work for the new evangelisation. We will create and bear witness to a covenant culture in the Church and world in a very simple and practical way, and in this way build a new social order and a new way of being Church from our very personal contributions and our solidarity with others.
We need a covenant culture in the spirit of Conference 2014 for the jubilee of the Schoenstatt Family.
schoenstatt.org is adopting this initiative and making it completely its own. It can start already with comments. In the coming days an area will be created here where we can shape this “covenant solidarity” very practically.
Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England – schoenstatt.org
