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Vale la pena hacer cola para poder entrar It’s worth while to stand in line to get in Es lohnt sich, Schlange zu stehen vor dem Urheiligtum Foto: Cabero © 2005 |
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Momentos de oración Moments of prayer Einfach ankommen und beten |
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El Santuario Original ahora está abierto 24 horas The Original Shrine is open throughout the whole night Das Urheiligtum ist rund um die Uhr geöffnet |
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Hay misas (hasta a las 23.00 de la noche), adoración, rosario... They celebrate Mass (at 11.00 PM), adoration, rosary Heilige Messen, Anbetung, Rosenkranz Foto: POS Fischer © 2005 |
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WYD-SCHOENSTATT, P. Marcelo Gallardo. How thoughtful God is in letting us come to the "mecca" of all Schoenstatters, the Original Shrine, and on such an important day as is the Transfiguration of the Lord. Father Kentenich often said that this Shrine is a Tabor of the glories of Mary. That is what we are experiencing: there is a great deal of emotion, many expectations, and many wanting to devour the Shrine because a great deal is offered here in this place of grace.
I imagine what the initial impact is for many of you upon entering the Original Shrine for the first time…..suddenly face to face with history…..face to face with Father Kentenich…..what a beautiful experience! I recall vividly the morning of the 3rd of January of 1998 at 11:00 A.M. It was my first encounter with the Original Shrine and I felt as if Father Kentenich was once again proclaiming the First Founding Document. With all of this regarding Tabor and the glories of Mary, we experience the glory of God and we encounter the Living God.
We are happy to have the presence of Fr. Pedro Kuhicke who is a member of my community, the Schoenstatt Fathers. He is a German Argentinian, born in Germany but lived in Argentina from a very early age. He is now fulfilling some educational tasks as a facilitator in the Seminary of our community in Germany. We thank you for accompanying us in this Holy Mass. The Shrine is for us a "World". When I define Schoenstatt, there is a definition which I really love and I use it repeatedly. When they ask me what Schoenstatt is, I do not tell them that it is a Movement of religious and moral renewal of the World in Jesus and Mary. Although it is an absolutely correct definition, I feel it lacks life. When they ask me what Schoenstatt is, I tell them what I believe: Schoenstatt is a Shrine. It is a Shrine with a Movement. It is a Shrine that has life. The center of Schoenstatt is the Shrine; therefore, the Covenant of Love is sealed in the Shrine. It is the Covenant of Love which gives life to these walls. Why do these walls have so much life? Why are we absorbed by all our heroes? Simply because they were daring and offered their lives for Schoenstatt. Here is where Joseph Engling offered his life. Here he would come 7 times a day and he would tell the sacristans that on his last visit of the day he would clean the Shrine because he wanted to have the privilege of being close to Mary. He came here to say farewell to Father Kentenich. He died in World War I in 1918. Here was his school of sanctity. We have the privilege of being able to participate in the context of this world wide meeting of youths and in the graces offered in this Shrine.
Take advantage of the Shrine
Therefore, I invite you this afternoon that we seriously take advantage of the Shrine. I am told that the Shrine is open 24 hours. Take advantage of this and dedicate time to the Shrine. This is a jewel. It is one of the most beautiful places in the World. In my estimation it is the most beautiful place in the World without a doubt. When I entered I was moved by the emotion I felt when I saw the face of the Blessed Mother.
Here the mystery of Mary and the mystery of the Covenant of Love have a special intensity. It is the contact with Mary and with the mystery of Schoenstatt which allows us to later go with a profound sense of mission to transform the World. The apostle is not in the first place the man of strategy or of activity, but is the man who meets God through Mary. Because that encounter is so deep and so real, he wants to go out and share it with others.
We did not come here to only have a quiet, relaxed spiritual moment…..to visit a beautiful place…..to participate with many youths in an encounter which will certainly be moving and significant…..we came to charge our batteries because we have much missionary work to do, to charge our batteries because we have a world to transform…..a world to change. That is the meaning of our pilgrimage to Schoenstatt. To have the strength to change the World – which is the mission of Schoenstatt in a nutshell – we don’t risk ourselves for less. We have to experience the glory of Tabor, the glories of Mary’s Tabor. We have to come often to the Shrine…..during free time…..at night…..early in the morning. We have to savor the mystery of the Shrine. If we have sealed the Covenant of Love we have to come to renew it and those who have not sealed their Covenant of Love need to come to prepare themselves for it. So, the invitation is to make use of the grace offered in the Shrine.
Read the history of Schoenstatt on these walls
The second invitation is to read the history of Schoenstatt on these walls. I was always impressed with a saying about Don Bosco and Turin…..that Don Bosco lived within the walls of Turin. It was very easy because on the walls of Turin the few famous phrases of Don Bosco are written there. These phrases were repeated and made history. Schoenstatt has much of that. Father Kentenich speaks on the walls of this Shrine, the life of Schoenstatt speaks, from the first Schoenstatter since Joseph Engling to the last, to the newest one today. The history of Schoenstatt is written on these walls as is the history of Father. His footsteps are among us in these houses. We saw the Bundesheim. Father preached retreats to priests there. Tomorrow or the day after, we will go to Father’s tomb. There he died on the 15th of September of 1968 after celebrating Holy Mass.
There are many things we want to take advantage of and there are also many things we want to offer to the Treasury of Grace in this Shrine: remember the persons who asked us to pray for them and offer to God the tiredness of our trip. We are here after a no more, no less an exhausting journey…..our eyes cannot stay open and that is human, it is good, it is normal, but we want to offer it to the Blessed Mother. We also want to offer Her an intense prayer life. If you ask me why I have come to Germany and to Rome – those of us who will go to Rome – we have come to pray, we have come to adore the Lord, to give ourselves to the Lord, to contemplate the Lord.
Privileged
This is the third invitation. We have come to make choices. We are privileged to be able to be here in this place of grace. Privileged. We are a small handful of Schoenstatters in spite of the more than 2,400 youths who have registered and although 4,500 more may arrive after the encounter. We are privileged. Privileges are costly in God’s World. They are expensive. God does not sell himself cheaply – He does not sell himself, He gives Himself. God asks us that from this experience we may be able to make choices. The great choice of life is called sanctity. To enter the Original Shrine is to make a radical decision for sanctity. We have made the choice, we are going to make it and we will continue making the choice throughout our life from this place which has a mystery which is linked to the mystery of sanctity.
May Mary who on this day of the Transfiguration of the Lord allows us to contemplate the glory of Jesus, her own glory and her joy…..May She allow us to choose sanctity, sanctity to the highest. Amen.
Sermon in the Mass on the arrival of the group from Argentina, August 6, 2005
Translation: Carlos Cantu, LaFeria, TX, USA