Fotos: POS, Fischer © 2003

SCHOENSTATT, mkf. A picture-perfect May Sunday, Good Shepherd's Day and Mothers' Day falling at the same time, as well as the first big diocesan pilgrimage of the year and the Schoenstatt Sisters' Mothers' Day celebration, made for a big number of pilgrims and visitors gathering in Schoenstatt

May 11, 2003, around 2.00 PM by the Original Shrine. Two Brazilians, mother and son, are standing by the Original Shrine, just looking at the pilgrims that are coming and going, and finally asking one of them to take a picture of them. "My mother is visiting me," the man, who lives in Cologne, shared. "She receives the Pilgrim Mother of Schoenstatt, and since she came she had only one wish - that we find out where Schoenstatt is, and that we go there. She just cried when she came to this little chapel… It is such a beautiful place, indeed, and you see the peace and joy in the faces of those who are around."

Each pilgrimage - a symbol for the pilgrimage of our life

Early in the morning of this sunny May Sunday, foot pilgrimages had arrived to Schoenstatt, coming from nearby towns - Ransbach-Baumbach, Hillscheid, and Höhr-Grenzhausen. These pilgrimages, promised during the war, are part of the Pallottines' pastoral of the shrine and place of pilgrimage. Usually, the pilgrim groups, that include many young families, children, and young people, had their Holy Mass in the Pallottines' pilgrims' church. As the church is being renovated, Father Matthias Rummel asked whether the very early pilgrimage could have a Holy Mass at 8.00 AM in the Schoenstatt Pilgrims' Church, and whether the two other ones could join the Pilgrims' Mass at 10.30 AM. Thus, in a completely filled Pilgrims' Church, the pilgrims from the diocese of Osnabrück celebrated Mass together with the foot pilgrims, accompanied by the brass band that came with one of the foot pilgrimages.

With several buses, the pilgrims from the diocese of Osnabrück had already arrived on Saturday, first greeting the Blessed Mother in the Original Shrine. As they had scheduled the pilgrimage for two days, they had time to take in the place more intensively and with more time to meditate.

The Good Shepherd and the uncertainties of life

Father Lothar Penners, movement director of the German Schoenstatt Movement, picked up the motive of the pilgrimage - by bus or by foot -, and in his sermon spoke about each pilgrimage as a symbol for the pilgrimage of our life, combining it with the gospel of the Good Shepherd: "When each one of us can say tonight: 'The Lord is my shepherd', then it was worth while to join in this pilgrimage."

The gospel of the Good Shepherd, rooted in the experience of the pastoral people of the Old Orient, through the times and through changing experiences has kept its magic attraction, speaking to the heart of each human being that is searching for guidance, security, and attachment. Both Pope John Paul II, as Father Kentenich, he said, are persons who prove through their biography and life, that also with the lack of experiencing deeper natural attachments in their own family, it is possible to give oneself to the Mother of all mothers, and in her love grow into the deep and unquestioned experience that God is the Good Shepherd of one's life.

In a time of feeling unsure with the experience of guidance - "What happens as the nation that claims leadership in the world starts a war without paying attention to international law?" - , it is important to find home to the personal experience of being guided by a Good Shepherd.

The Shrine - a wellspring of living water

The Shrine of the Blessed Mother is what the wells were for the pastoral people of the desert lands: a source of life. The focus of each pilgrimage should be, as St. Gertrud once put it - to take a day off from time to time, to the end that all of the gratitude of your life may gather in your heart, and then to bring it to God. "Find a time today to see and value and maybe better understand the gifts of the Shepherd of your life, so that you, at the end of this pilgrimage, may say: The Lord is the Shepherd of my life!" He is the Shepherd of my life, he knows me, he went through each pain and each death.

The Schoenstatt picture of grace - a picture of God's motherly care

The Schoenstatt picture of grace, the picture of the Mother Thrice Admirable, he said, is a picture of God's motherly care, a picture of the Good Shepherd quality of God's love. While he encouraged the pilgrims, on this Mothers' Day, to look at the tender way of how the Blessed Mother on this picture holds her child and looks at each one, several of the pilgrims could see how a small girl huddled in the arms of her mother and with a bright smile did not stop looking at her…

Mothers' Day as a special day to honor Mary, and each mother, inspired the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary on Mount Schoenstatt a couple of years ago to invite for a "Mothers' Day program on Mount Schoenstatt".

While the pilgrims from Osnabrück were preparing for the Marian Celebration, the Mothers' Day program began on Mount Schoenstatt. The parking place was soon filled with cars, and long before the prayer service began in the Adoration Church, one could see people walking and talking on the Mountain, and children "conquering" the playgrounds that had been prepared.

"Love sees more"

The prayer service in the Adoration Church followed the song that Sr. Renata had written as an illustration of the German Schoenstatt Movement's Year's motto, "Love sees more". With testimonies on mothers' and the Mother's love, the refrain and verses of the song linking the testimonies, a "sun dance" performed by children, and the offering of flowers to the Blessed Mother, the celebration created a beautiful atmosphere of joy, and love, organically leading to the understanding of the Blessed Mother as real mother of all the children of God.

After the celebration, a program for young and old enfolded around the Adoration Church, in the Father Kentenich House, on the lawn and around the "Old barn". Mount Schoenstatt had actually turned into a children's playground, with a big number of young Schoenstatt Sisters enjoying their new role as playing partners! While the children enjoyed the different games, the senior visitors - but not only them - were attracted by the Sisters' music band playing traditions German folk-songs. Many others just enjoyed to sit and talk while having a cup of coffee, cake, fresh wafers.

And as shopping is also part of a decent tour to a place of pilgrimage, many went home with the offered pot plants, cuddle toys, tapes, and other items. The Schoenstatt Mothers informed about their initiative for pregnant women in need, and a number of sisters was ready to give information about Schoenstatt or pass on material.

A special highlight, not only for the children, was the performance of a magician… and it remained open whether it was more sensational that the magician could really make water disappear, or that the magician was a real Schoenstatt Sister!

At the end of the afternoon, both visitors as Schoenstatt Sisters seemed to have enjoyed a relaxed, joyful time on a Mount Schoenstatt filled with life!