TOWARDS THE YOUTH SYNOD • Pope Francis delivered a video message for the International Marian Vigil with young people that took place at the St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Teramo, Italy, in preparation for the next Synod of Bishops on Youth, urging them to not be silent and to teach the adults about dialogue and concord. He spoke about the digital revolution, Mary, and the mission that youth have. — Text of the video message Dear friends, I am happy to take part in the International Marian
Read More WORLD YOUTH DAY • The 33rd World Youth Day 2018 will be celebrated throughout the world on Palm Sunday, 25 March, and to mark the occasion, Pope Francis sent a message to the youth in preparation for the international meeting of youth, which will take place in Panama 2019. — “Dear young people, the Lord, the Church, the world are waiting for your answer to the unique call that each one receives in this life! As World Youth Day in Panama draws closer, I invite you to prepare yourselves for
Read More ECUADOR, Emili Puñet • The family from Quito is celebrating! On 20 January 1993, we invited our Blessed Mother to build her throne in the middle of the world, and on Saturday, 20 January 2018, we celebrated 25 years of this great blessing for the entire Schoenstatt Family. On this date, Auxiliary Bishop, Danilo Echeverría, celebrated the Jubilee Mass as the last act of a triduum of thanksgiving that began with a Covenant Mass on the 18th, followed by Adoration on the 19th, and concluded with a Mass for 500
Read More MESSAGE OF POPE FRANCIS AT CHRISTMAS 2017 • The beautiful Christmas story has so often been sung, painted and sometimes even romanticised, but it has something to do with today, with the actual events happening today, with real life and a real world. It no longer surprises us to read this message from Pope Francis, but it will make us happy. The Christmas story is the story of a young couple that found no place to stay, and who changed a stable into a church. “They are the first to
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 to
Read More ARGENTINA, Rosana Luna • Every October, the traditional Celebration of the Horse is carried out in Bragado, a province of Buenos Aires, which as of this year took on national character. It could not be any other way, Our Lady of Schoenstatt, our beloved Blessed Mother, wanted to be there, and so she also traveled the parade route; Salvador González, affectionately known by all Bragado residents as “el malagueño” (someone from Malaga) a loyal devotee of the Blessed Mother, carried her. The National Celebration of the Horse is a traditional
Read More PARAGUAY, Sandra Lezcano • Today my alarm clock rang three hours earlier than usual. I had to do my work at the office so I could leave early for Tupãrenda. Early on, my cell phone’s screen displayed a number of messages on social media that needed to be read. There was no doubt that it was a special day. I greeted the Blessed Mother in my Home Shrine telling her about my plans to leave work early so I could visit her in the afternoon at the Tupãrenda Shrine. I
Read More CHILE, Carmen M. Rogers • Approximately five years or more, I left the advertising agency where I worked for more than twenty years. I left, but the Blessed Mother, the Father, and the Shrine did not. To the desperation of my successor but to the joy of others, their presence remained without anyone daring to remove them. For five years, I had played the fool, but the fatal day arrived. The office had moved to new facilities, and on the eve of the 15 August holiday, a classic cardboard box
Read More Carlos E. Barrio y Lipperheide, Argentina • I am saddened by the profound events that dress our contemporary world in mourning. To cite just a few examples, I think of the recent attack in Barcelona, the hungry and desperate immigrants who reach the developed world’s closed doors, the hunger and misery of so many who cannot find a way to escape their poverty. These pains bring me to the cross of inconsolable people that are destroyed, anxious and hopeless. The weight of so many crosses, much crueler than mine! What
Read More CHILE, Sr. M. Ivonne Latsague V. • On, Saturday, 1 July, according to the calendar, the picture of the Parish Pilgrim Mother was supposed to be transferred from one rural chapel to another one that belongs to the “Child Jesus” Parish of Villa Alegre, in Chile’s seventh region. What seemed to be simple transfer from one community to another, as it has been done so many times, became a beautiful gathering of faith, which at the same time was folkloric and religious. At the scheduled time, some cowboys arrived mounted
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