mkf. What an 18th was celebrated this April 18, 2010, only fifty-two 18th’s from October 18, 2014! Nine thousand pilgrims arrived at the Atibaia Shrine in Brazil. (They expected 137 buses, but 174 arrived…”everything was depleted: water, food…but happily the graces of the Shrine are never depleted.”) It was the first 18th for the Schoenstatt Family from Curitiba with a new auxiliary bishop, who is also a member of the Schoenstatt Federation of priests; he was consecrated on the 15th. Then there was the National Rosary Campaign workshop in Nuevo Schoenstatt, Argentina; and the Schoenstatt family from Portugal, which celebrated the Golden Anniversary of Schoenstatt in their country at Fatima with more than 1,500 people in attendance, while hundreds of Schoenstatters throughout the world prayed before their PC screens, following the direct transmission of the main ceremony in the Chapel of Apparitions…
It was a very touching moment to see the Auxiliary MTA and the Father Symbol – on its worldwide pilgrimage – appear on the screen, to listen (thanks to the continuous transmission from Fatima) – to the renewal of the Covenant of Love and the song “Mary of the Covenant”…
In Schoenstatt, this 18th was a Spring day with sunshine and a blue sky. No one thought about the ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland that covered a large part of Europe and forced the cancellation of all flights…And that was how two ladies from South Africa returned to Schoenstatt much sooner than they expected after bidding farewell the day before…
The evening Mass was celebrated in the Pilgrims’ Church. The International Leaders of the Family Federation were present; they had gathered at Schoenstatt for a week – and on Saturday, they had already attended the International Mass for the intentions of 2014; this week’s was celebrated for Australia.
A profound faith in the Covenant of Love…throughout the world
After the Mass, the participants and many more – among them, the European novitiate of the Schoenstatt Fathers, who recently began with five novices from Germany, Switzerland and Poland – went on pilgrimage to the Original Shrine to renew the Covenant of Love, united with the Schoenstatt Family in the Shrines, wayside shrines, and Home Shrines throughout the world.
With only fifty-two more 18th’s until October 18, 2014, once again the large Schoenstatt Family gathered physically or spiritually, around the Original Shrine, the source of all Schoenstatt, like the young men did on that October 18th of 1914.
“This quiet act of faith of Father Kentenich with a small group of sodalists – the founding event of October 18, 1914 in the Original Shrine is still alive within us, just as fresh as it ever was during the founding moment in the Original Shrine on 18 October 1914. We were surprised to discover that our deep faith in the reality of the covenant of love with the Blessed Mother is what moves and inspires us globally.” (Message 2014)
After the renewal of the Covenant of Love in the Original Shrine, everyone went to the bonfire, which was already lit. After burning the papers with the contributions to the capital of grace, some songs were sung, and then it was time to greet one another by conversing in several languages.
