mkf. According to Fr Franz Heister, a friend since his youth, it was a jubilee celebration that exactly suited Rector Egon Zillekens and the “colourful network of relationships” surrounding him. In his feastday sermon Fr Heister described this network as: easy-going yet deep, spontaneous yet reflected, refreshingly spontaneous despite good preparation, profoundly religious and profoundly human, amicably close, honest and not without that humour that distinguishes every genuine disciple of Jesus (and Kentenich) from the “sad saints”…
On 24 June forty years had passed since the first Bishop of Essen, later Cardinal Dr Franz Hengsbach, ordained Egon Zillekens to the priesthood in his hometown of Gelsenkirchen. On that day he was joined by many people to thank God for this grace. Actually the festive Holy Mass was planned to take place in the garden in front of the Canaan Patris Shrine, but the changeable weather finally led to the decision to transfer the celebration to the House Chapel of the Marienau, where the congregation squeezed in as a large family. The heavy rain shower that occurred during the Mass proved to any doubters that the decision had been correct.
All have arrived – Living in many and varied relationships
The invitation card and the candle on the altar showed the symbols that were and are still today important to the Jubilarian – the shrine, the Marienau, the chalice he used for his First Mass, the motifs on his ordination card (the Golden Madonna in Essen Cathedral, the altar relief in the Church of the Sacred Heart in Gelsenkirchen-Heullen), and on the reverse the motto of the ordination course of 1971: The way to God does not lead past the world, but to service to others.
Forty years since his ordination to the priesthood, Rector Egon was celebrating an “anxiety jubilee”, as he put it, that he really didn’t want to celebrate, but which he finally agreed to on the advice of Fr Noethen, who said to him: Who knows if you will still be alive in ten years’ time; who is still alive of those you wanted to invite?
Rector Zillekens welcomed all whom he wanted to invite, and who had arrived in large numbers as a living illustration of the many and varied relationships in his life – a network of nets in which each one is the centre of a smaller or bigger network. He mentioned those who had accompanied him in his childhood and youth in Gelsenkirchen, his family, the friends he had made in the years he had spent with the Schoenstatt Fathers, the priests in the Priests’ Federation, the congregations attending the evening Masses in the Marienau shrine, friends and colleagues in the Diocese of Essen and Schoenstatt, and the people who had been connected in some way with the Marienau in the last seven years, and the Covenant Home in the last year. These are some of the places where Rector Zillekens has worked. He spoke of his parish in Ecuador where Schoenstatt life is gradually growing; he reminded those present of the large candle his parish had given him in farewell. All that was lacking was the football team, Shalke 04…
The “Federation Band” (a still nameless group of musicians composed of three Federation priests with six or more instruments) led the singing during Holy Mass with great musical verve.
Little prophets that set their stamp on life
Retired parish priest, Fr Franz Heister, from the same parish in Gelsenkirchen as Rector Zillekens, gave the festive sermon. It was in this parish that the Jubilarian had been given his love for the Church and Schoenstatt. The parish priest of their home parish, a Schoenstatt priest who was a “little prophet” of Fr Kentenich, Fr Josef Stahlschmidt, whom Fr Kentenich had got to know in the 1920s, touched many lives and led many to Schoenstatt, including Fr heister, Rector Zillekens, and others. The testimonies to this priest, with all his rough edges, are very precious, particularly those that showed how much Fr Kentenich appreciated, protected and supported him and his commitment to Schoenstatt.
His family, his friendship with Jesus and his life in the shadow of the shrine, said Fr Heister, are the sources from which Rector Egon Zillekens had nourished his life as a priest, and which found symbolic expression on the invitation card.
“In God’s eternity everything we have lived will remain present,” Fr Heister said in conclusion. “There is no limit to the extent of God’s memory – the God of life and relationships is merciful.”
Instead of toasts
Since, in keeping with Rector Zillekens’ wish, “I hope there are no toasts”, the words of thanks at the end of Mass, and the invitation to a champagne reception followed by lunch, gave rise to great merriment. A brief congratulation by Fr Baumann (Priests’ Federation), and Rainer Gotter, meaningful gifts, and of course a photo of the Shalke Football team, were followed by a musical number by Dr Agathe Hug of Schoenstatt-tv (since there were to be no speeches, they simply had to be sung!) Laughter was guaranteed and many a reflective laugh as well – and suddenly this “colourful network of relationships” had become a family.
This sense of light-heartedness followed into lunch in the various dining rooms and rested on the Marienau and Schoenstatt for quite some time.
Heartfelt congratulations, Rector Zillekens, and many thanks!
Translation: Mary Cole, Manchester, England
 |
| Jun 30, 2011 40 Jahre Priesterweihe Rektor Egon Zillekens |
