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Burundi, un país pequeño en el corazón de Africa... Burundi, ein kleines Land im Herzen Afrikas… |
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... un pais donde la Mater obra milagros en los corazones ... a country where the MTA Works miracles in the hearts …ein Land, in dem die Gottesmutter Wunder in den Herzen wirkt Fotos: Seitzer © 2005 |
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RESONANCE, acm. When I saw the photos of the article in German, I was stunned.. but I never imagined the great treasure that was hidden in it, as I later discovered, thanks to the Spanish translation. I never thought anything like that could happen, which makes me confront myself with my own limitations and miseries, before the nobility of the prisoners of Burundi.
The realities that they confront, beyond the jail, are far from pleasant: poverty, violence, needs and excesses of all kinds. And even so, in spite of it all, these men remind us of the value of human dignity, what true love of the MTA means, that it is about loyalty, hope, solidarity, faith, and mission consciousness. To know that one is the child of a Father who loves him, above all things, more precisely, the less one has, the less it is considered, the less it is taken in account. They are acknowledged with filial love, in spite of and with their limitations, errors, faults and sins. This exemplary testimony gives new life to the parable of the Prodigal Son – or of the Merciful Father, as some call it.
The return to the heart of God
Hence, the prisoners, the same as the son who abandoned his paternal home, show us the way back toward the heart of God. They feel sheltered and loved in the heart of the Father and Founder, prisoner in Dachau. Through him, surely, they will reach the heart of the MTA and of her Son, Jesus, for whom they decided to build a "Shrine" in that place, where they are needed, more than ever and more than any other place. They truly feel like Schoenstatters and as such they prepare themselves to seal the Covenant of Love, with a Capital of Grace, and their own "place of grace", this is the workshop where the Mary educates her children.
They are a hymn of faith and hope "that does not defraud". They also do not give up, in the midst of the terribly bad situation such as the lack of freedom. Instead of abandoning themselves, of rebelling, are become depressed, or to wavering, they elevate themselves above their reality and in turn, they become more like children, and as such, are more worthy than ever. They do not even fall into a passive resignation, but instead they go into action with all the strength of their souls. How many times are we totally depressed before the least inconvenience? Sometimes, we really have to make an effort to ward off discouragement, knowing and feeling that we are deeply loved by a Father of infinite love, by a Mother, who is always at our side.
The Shrine at Dachau
I also remembered the Shrine at Dachau, a mission of life for the professionals from Germany. I often ask myself how will they build it, what will happen after that, how and to what extent will it transform the Dachau of daily life. Today I found the answer in this Prison Shrine in Bururi, which could be found in Dachau, as a symbol of the inheritance that our Father left there, giving meaning and a sure way in each of the similar circumstances that we experience. This Prison Shrine invites and challenges us to all lift ourselves up above all difficulties, so that like this group of brothers from Burundi, we can contemplate on heaven and from there become loyal instruments in the hand of the Blessed Mother, who sends us forth to "give people a new destiny", to day by day reveal the greatness of Christ to a world full of misery, to slake the thirst for love from which the world suffers., to promptly transform sadness into joy, "willing to give up life and blood with joy for love."
Do you know the land, like heaven itself,
the so ardently longed-for kingdom of freedom:
where magnanimity and sense of the fitting
overcome the downward pull of nature;
where the slightest wishes of God are binding
and receive in answer a joyful decision;
where they, in accord with love’s fundamental law,
are always victoriously put into action? (Heavenwards, p. 159
stanza 5)
Of course I know that marvelous land –as Father would describe it- where Our Queen and Lady Thrice Admirable reigns in the land of her chosen children, where she loyally rewards the gifts of love that manifest her glory and gives an unlimited fruitfulness. It is my Schoenstatt land – in the jail of Bururi, in Burundi!
Translation: Celina M Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA