(mkf) Love is stronger. The new motto of the Schoenstatt Movement in Germany "incited" some Ladies of Schoenstatt to organize a peace prayer service in Schoenstatt on each Wednesday night until Christmas. On October 31, approximately 70 persons of all ages gathered in and around the Shrine by House Marienau, joining in prayer for world peace and for all the victims of violence – in New York, Washington, in Afghanistan and where ever forgotten wars claim human lives.

Terror, bombs, anthrax threads, fears – love is stronger, and prayer a powerful weapon: this is what some Ladies of Schoenstatt said who had just hosted the exhibition: "Women in Resistance against National Socialism" in their house "Regina". One of the victims who died in the Women's Concentration Camp of Ravensbrück was Lotte Holubars, member of the Secular Institute of the Ladies of Schoenstatt. Some of them took initiative...

Call to Increased Prayer

The Schoenstatt Movement is hit by the attacks and moved at the same time in view of responsibility and mission, stated Father Michael Joh. Marmann, chairperson of the General Presidium of the International Schoenstatt Movement, in a letter sent mid October to the National Councils. Father Marmann joined in the peace prayer on Wednesday night that is one of the many initiatives sparked up by the letter sent in the name of the General Presidium. "Of course, the first we are called to is to stir up a stream of prayers," he wrote. "This is what we always said and expressed in prayer services and memorial Masses right after September 11.For us, stirring up a stream of prayer always means to "gently force" Mary, the Mother and Queen of the World, the Queen of the Rosary, to become active and work according to God's plans in this time of the history."

Working for a New Solidarity of Peace

The message of the Schoenstatt Peace Prayer is simple and clear: strive for justice on world scale terms and in the own family, overcome hatred by mutual understanding and help create new communities based on solidarity. The simple prayers and songs grant the possibility for personal meditation; intense prayer, seriousness, and commitment mark the atmosphere in and around the Shrine. The Shrine radiating a warm light into the dark of a cloudy, dark fall night, the door wide open – a symbol that does not need comments. The small congregation recited the prayer that Pope John Paul II said soon after September 11. A decade of the rosary links them with the millions who during October joined in the Holy Father's plea for intensified daily prayer of the rosary for World Peace.

At the end, Father Fleischlin extended his priestly blessing from this place of grace to all those affected by the terrorist attacks in the USA, the bomb raids in Afghanistan, and those who make the decisions. "We need this, everywhere is fear", said a woman before she returned home. "Thank you, and I'll be back next Wednesday."