Tobia Wiedemer. The annual Night of the Shrine is about to begin and hundreds of teenagers are packing their suitcases to come to Schönstatt and experience a weekend full of memories from the 20th to the 22nd of August 2010. The unforgettable Night of the Shrine is under the motto: ‘But you choose the future’.
The preparations are in the last phases. 60 motivated volunteers came a week in advance on Monday the 16th, and together the build an unbeatable team.
A closer look
The huge tent in which all the group activities will take place was standing in a few hours.
The decorations are ready and waiting to be discovered.
The last organizational steps are in the process of being figured out.
And there is still work to be done. Before the youth can arrive on Friday afternoon a lot still needs to be taken care of. For example the secret dance is still in need of some rehearsals.
But until it could even come this far, there was a lot of work in advance. Somebody had to think of a motto. A program had to be worked out. Workshops had to be created fitting to the motto… the list never ends.
Inner Preparation
It was not even to prepare the Night of the Shrine with physical hard work, but the heart had to be prepared too. In order to make this possible the team wrote a prayer of preparation that they pray every evening:
The ‘Night of the Shrine’. A night, in which we celebrate the Original Shrine. A night of prayer. A night of encounter. A night of renewal – starting from the heart. A night, in which the ‘Covenant of love for the Youth of the world’ becomes alive anew.
A ‘Covenant for the Youth of the world’. With them and for them, we pray:
Blessed Mother,
Through Your presence the Original Shrine is a place of grace.
You act – we discover this again and again.
You give us a home. Ingrain and sustain the teenagers and young adults from all nations in your Shrine.
You change us. Let the Original Shrine become a source of strength for the youth that they will be able to withstand all challenges in their lives and grow into strong Christian people.
You send us out. Motivate the Youth to give witness of the beauty of their faith and become engaged people in the church.
Blessed Mother, our hearts have caught fire. WE have great expectations for the year 2014. Make your promise reality: You will pull the young hearts from here towards you. Amen.
Translation: Tobia Wiedemer, Germany
