Advent Tag

Adviento en la Casa del Niño
ARGENTINA, Gabriela Sarquis • This week Advent began and so did Advent at the Casa del Niño. We began this season that the Church proposes to us to prepare us for the great feast of the birth of Jesus, made a child, out of love for all of us. And his love has neither beginning nor end, it is forever. — That is why the children of Casa del Niño started the week by putting together a big Christmas tree, donated by Patricia, who together with the children prepared andRead More
Adviento
Fr. José Javier Arteaga – Schoenstatt Fathers • Dear brothers and sisters: The World Cup has begun and all the attention in the conversations and in the media revolves around the matches, the national team and whether we are positioned to win the cup. The big question is whether the national team is well prepared to win. But without making so much noise – like all transcendent things – this Sunday begins the season of Advent and a new liturgical year. The word advent comes from the Latin adventus andRead More
Roma
ITALY, Patricia Manson • For fifteen years now, week after week, a small group of Schoenstattian faithful have been unfailingly meeting every Wednesday at the Cor Ecclesiae Shrine in Rome to pray the Rosary. As long as it was possible, and I could find a ride since I do not drive, I too most willingly would join them to participate in a prayer gathering of a rather new type for me, who grew up in a Protestant environment. — I must admit that at first I met with difficulty inRead More
Columna P. Enrique Grez López
Fr. Enrique Grez • The days go by and many of us complain that Advent is slipping through our fingers. Here is a selection of digital calendars that can help us in the preparation of Christmas. — We have lived strange years. The disease has struck each of us differently, but all of us together, and the approach of Christmas is an opportunity to take responsibility for what we have lived through. To take account, to make amends, and to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, whichRead More
Encuentro
SPAIN, Pilar de Beas• Christmas was coming and already during Advent, we had started preparing backpacks filled with food and clothes for our friends: the poorest of the poor who do not even have a roof over their heads. — The great “distribution” date was drawing closer and we felt like the Magi from the East, bringing those who were waiting for us the only gift that they will receive: backpacks. And this time they are filled with lots of hard work, prayers and contributions to the Capital of Grace,Read More
Fr. Guillermo Carmona • Soon we will begin the time of Advent[1].  The Virgin is on the way.  She is like a closed ciborium filled with the Lord.  Nobody knows it, only Joseph, her cousin, Elizabeth and her husband Zachary, and perhaps a few more. The rest of humanity and the Jews at the time were unaware; they were unaware of the mystery gestating in her womb, so there will be no room for them in Bethlehem.  How unfortunate to not discover the presence of God when He comes toRead More
100 HOUSES, Maria Fischer and Ani Souberlich • We are advancing…on the road towards Christmas We, a searching people, a people of waiting, a people of hope… We are advancing…on the road toward Christmas Guided by a star, a star of peace and of solidarity… We are advancing …on the road toward Christmas A single desire guides our steps: to find a child, to find the smile of a child, to find the humanity of a child… We are advancing …on the road toward Christmas Hands extending toward others, theRead More
Maria Fischer • “Then, I opened the door, and I found myself before the Blessed Sacrament. After this long trip through cold and darkness, tired and without even knowing if I would find the Shrine, I found her myself, illuminated this this warm light. It was time for Eucharistic Adoration, tears fell, and I did not care about anything else… I arrived and there was only joy within me, simply joy, within me; it is Christmas.” Gabrielle Pietro belongs to the Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth in San Antonio, Texas USA. SheRead More
COSTA RICA, by Rudolf Sauter and Maria Fischer • This Thursday, a 7.0 earthquake, with its epicenter right off El Salvador’s Pacific coast, shook the Central American territory hours after hurricane Otto entered Nicaragua from the Caribbean. Within a few hours, these small Central American countries – Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica – many of them with a high degree of poverty, found themselves with quake damage in the west and a hurricane in the east. Panamá, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica… are countries that sound “familiar”Read More
POPE FRANCIS IN AFRICA, by Sarah-Leah Pimentel • After meeting the leaders of the Central African Republic (CAR), Pope Francis visited a refugee camp, administered the sacrament of reconciliation to a gathering of young people and celebrated two masses. Thousands came to see Francis despite a security lockdown Despite the fears of security, people turned out in large numbers to meet with Pope Francis. Journal de Bangui described the atmosphere as follows: “Despite the security threats and the fear that is now a part of their daily lives, the CentralRead More