SOUTH AMERICA, ACIprensa /mf • “Fourteen days ago, one hundred youths and a dozen Schoenstatt Fathers left Mendoza to cross the Andes on foot to reach the Marian Shrine in Santiago de Chile. Each day they experienced the sunrise and sunset in prayer, and faith encouraged them to walk 400 kilometers and gave them the strength to arrive. The faith that Jesus hoped to find in his country. The faith that moves mountains or overcomes them. The faith that heals and performs miracles. Our task for today is to ask
Read More SPAIN, Ambrosio Arizu/Maria Fischer • “Tell them to write on the web”, Ambrosio Arizu answers me when I tell him that within the schoenstatt.org team, after so many articles about Madre Ven – the pilgrimage in 2021, and the film in 2022 – the hope grew to be able to see the film also in Portugal and Argentina. The diffusion of the film is in charge of the production company Goya… but with the touch of “nothing without us”, since Goya acts from the popular request, expressed in a form
Read More SPAIN, Maria Fischer • “Let’s go on pilgrimage with the Blessed Mother through the cinemas! Join this week and take ” Madre Ven” to many people”. If we already watched with amazement the repercussion of the ” Madre Ven” Pilgrimage, the idea of the production of a movie of it and the premiere in several dozens of movie theaters, seemed to us a subject of pious fiction… We are talking about cinema, this is Avatar II and Wakanda and EO, but ” Madre, ven”? Yes. This movie – let’s remember
Read More BRAZIL, Ruy Kaercher/ Maria Fischer • “And we finally arrived at 1977, the year of the construction and inauguration of the Shrine of Santa Cruz, the sixth shrine in Brazil, the diocesan shrine of this land. We began this year with new enthusiasm and great conviction that this would be the year marked by heaven for special graces to be worked in this land.” Father’s footsteps generate life. “Precisely three days before the 30th anniversary of the Founding Father’s visit to Santa Cruz, construction work began on the shrine. The
Read More JESUIT PILGRIMAGE, Press Release • The Jesuits launched a free “Jesuit Pilgrimage” smartphone app. It aims to give an intimate experience of the locations that helped make Ignatius of Loyola a saint and led to the writing of the Spiritual Exercises, a manual to help people discover God in a personal and passionate way. “This app has the same purpose” said Fr John Dardis, SJ, Director of the Jesuit General Curia Communications Office. — The app is available in English, Spanish, Italian and French, both for Android and
Read More SPAIN, Paz Leiva • Saturday morning and to the cinema. An unusual plan, but the movie “Madre, ven” is being shown in the center of Madrid and we bought tickets. We are looking forward to it. Some people saw it at the premiere and agree that it is worth it. — We walk from home and arrive in time in front of the Paz Cinema. It’s a sunny but cold day. So, we take our seats, row 6, in the aisle, “right in the middle,” as my mother used to
Read More SPAIN, Pere Pares • The Camino de Guadalupe is one of those great treasures of the Spanish tradition that, because it is not so popular, ends up being forgotten, at least for young people. However, great personalities, such as Isabella the Catholic or Miguel de Cervantes, have lived this pilgrimage and their lives are proof that it is a place of grace. — It has been something totally providential that the youth ended up walking the Camino Real. Originally the pilgrimage was going to be to Javier, but when they
Read More ITALY, Marie- Christine Jeannenot and Pamela Fabiano • On Saturday, October 16, and Sunday, October 17, the XVII National Meeting of the Schoenstatt Movement in Italy took place in the International Schoenstatt Center of Belmonte: a moment rich in events and fellowship based on the theme of the family, in this special year dedicated to the family by the Pope. — On Saturday the 16th eve, participants arrived from several Regions of Italy, but alas not all owing to pandemic restrictions. In the evening, in an atmosphere of joy and
Read More ARGENTINA, Constanza Manrique • On September 11, the fifth pilgrimage of couples to Lujan, organized by the Los Olmos Shrine, in charge of Father Marcelo Gallardo, took place. Years ago we walked praying for the shrine, which was finally built in the midst of the pandemic, against all odds. Today we walk to give thanks for the shrine. The Blessed Mother has made her home among us. — With a radiant sky and under the immense cape of Mary, we gathered at Los Olmos, the meeting point and headquarters of
Read More SPAIN, Maria Fischer • “In this difficult moment, Mother of Mercy, “Madre, Ven” [Come, Mother in Spanish]. The image of Our Lady of Ephesus arrived from Ephesus (Turkey) in Valencia to visit the sick, elderly, prisoners, and religious communities. — Thus reads the note from Ainhoa Clavel from COPE in Valencia. A Pilgrim Mother has been traveling through Spain since May and people come from their homes to greet her, give her flowers, offer her rosaries, hymns, and prayers. A phenomenon in a country that has a high number of
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