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Domingo, 31 de julio: peregrinación de unos 40 voluntarios de la Oficina de la JMJ en Colonia Sunday, July 31: pilgrimage of some 40 long-term volunteers of the World Youth Day Office in Cologne Sonntag, 31. Juli: Schönstatt-Wallfahrt von etwa 40 Langzeitvoluntären aus dem Weltjugendtagsbüro in Köln |
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Misa en la Iglesia de la Adoración Mass in the Adoration Church Messe in der Anbetungskirche |
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Un regalo del Padre Kentenich a cada uno A gift from Father Kentenich for each one Ein Geschenk von Pater Kentenich für jeden |
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Un recuerdo para llevar a casa A souvenir to take home Eine Erinnerung für zu Hause |
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Testimonio cantado: Es mi familia, es mi hogar... Singing her testimony: This is my family, this is my home Gesungenes Zeugnis: Meine Familie, mein Zuhause… |
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Despues del almuerzo en la Casa Sonnenau, caminaron al Santuario Original From House Sonnenau, after lunch, they set out for the Original Shrine Nach dem Mittagessen ging es zum Urheiligtum |
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Descansando Resting Ausruhen |
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Hemos venido para adorarte, Cristo – junto con Maria We have come to adore you, Jesus – together with Mary Wir sind gekommen, um dich anzubeten, Jesus – zusammen mit Maria Fotos: POS Fischer © 2005 |
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SCHOENSTATT., MKF. The time for World Youth Day is getting closer, in which I am going to participate, God willing, although I am no longer so young. But I have a young heart!In the next days many groups of youth from all over the world will travel to Cologne, illuminated by the motto of the Three Kings: We have come to adore him". At the same time, just as Pope Benedict XVI asked during the Angelus at Castelgandolfo that we pray for World Youth Day ,more than forty volunteers who have worked for some time in the World Youth Day office in Cologne, have prayed in the Adoration Church in Schoenstatt asking that this be a time of grace, of a profound encounter with Christ, of blessings and joy for all the youth that is on the way towards Cologne. Although it is only two week until World Youth Day, they traveled to Schoenstatt at the invitation of the Schoenstatters who work with them, and they brought all their enthusiasm with them as well as the difficulties they encounter while working in Cologne.
"The whole world is here, affirms Manuela Mananes (from the personnel and computer department) who is a member of the Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth from La Plata, Argentina, before a group of pilgrims who arrived by foot to Schoenstatt from the train station in Vallendar at 10:30 a.m. The first stop on the way was the Schoenstatt Press Office (where Christel Sonnekalb, from Venezuela, collaborated for 7 weeks [now she works in the communications and publicity department] and that is why one must know) clearly showed the great openness of the youth. Looking at the world map in the hall they tried to determine where Schoenstatt was established in their countries. "I had not heard about Schoenstatt as I have since I arrived in Cologne", said a Salesian from Canada. "I have asked here and everyone clearly know who I should speak to!" "Is Schoenstatt in Albania?", asked a youth who is a native from that country and he wants to find the address at any cost. A youth from Salvador also asked the same question, and he was a little sad because there is no Schoenstatt Shrine in that place. There are also youth from New Zealand and Italy, from Azerbaijan and Mexico who also want to know about Schoenstatt.
Where are we going to get the strength?
"We wanted a little gift for those who go with us: a prayer, something that will remind them that Schoenstatt has been a home for them, a family…We took 40 youth who need to be filled with the living Christ…that need to feel at home, who need to be treated with the importance they deserve…" that is what Manuela wrote in the email a little before the pilgrimage. "Please pray for sunshine, Schoenstatt is so beautiful when the weather is good, and they should feel that Schoenstatt is the most beautiful thing that exists!" And the Allies in heaven expressed their gratitude to the Allies on earth for all their giving of self and they made the sun shine, although the weather forecast had predicted heavy rains and cloudiness. They walked to the Adoration Church (some 2 kilometers) where Father Duncan McVicar and some volunteers from the project office of World Youth Day in Schoenstatt, prepared the Holy Mass with songs and readings in English, German and Spanish. Where do we get the strength for the Action?, asked Father Duncan in the homily. Where will we get the strength so that World Youth Day will be a time of grace and not only a fantastic organization? With vividness and in a concrete manner he told of the last vision of Don Bosco that Father Kentenich mentioned in the last writing of his life: "With hope and joy and confident in the victory we go with Mary into the newest times". (Heavenwards, p179)
Don Bosco had the vision of a great naval battle: the ship of the Church was saved when it was anchored to two firm columns in the sea: they were the Eucahrist and Mary. They are the ones who give strength: The Eucharist as the most profound unity with Christ that is possible on earth, and Mary "completely full of Christ" who wants nothing else except to lead us to the profoundest attachment with Jesus. Could we live as Christians, can we continue to keep John Paul II’s inheritance in force, do we have the strength to irradiate the faith in the midst of tensions and disillusions?, he asked. "My strength is in the Eucharist and in Mary", he said and it felt as if he had struck a chord.
Be the hands, the gaze and the smile of God the Father
"In this group who is on pilgrimage there are several youths –also some Germans- with much faith, with a great need to grow in Christ and they saw in the "live Schoenstatt"we, Schoenstatters, brought them here so they could experience what "they wanted to know"…they are thirsty to know "what make Schoenstatters what they are", commented Manuela about the great openness of the volunteers. After the Holy Mass they were all invited to the Founder’s Chapel, to give them a surprise in that place. Just as Father Kentenich greeted his visitors when he was alive, we now wanted to greet them in the same way, just as the mysterious announcement said.
First they were given a brief anecdote of Father Kentenich’s life, which Father Alfonso Boess told recently:
"During his exile in the United States I had written him several times from Germany and also from Chile, and he had answered. I have those letters. And when he returned to Schoenstatt he entered the drawing room of the Sisters to greet them. There were 400 sisters present. My sister – Maria Alfonsia, who is a Sister of Mary – was in the hall and when he drew close to her, he recognized her, which was incredible because she was only a novice when Father left. And he asked her: "And how is your little brother?" It was incredible, I was one of many and this Sister was also one among 400, and this happened after being away from Schoenstatt for 15 years".
Today Father Kentenich would ask: how are the volunteers who have been in Cologne for such a long time? Father Kentenich, would transmit through all of his being the message of the infinite love of God the Father, since he, like Mary, was the hands, the smile, and the warm gaze, understanding, and taking personal interest of the Father in each one. And so that they would experience him in this manner, there was a gift for each of them on the tomb: a photo of John Paul II at the first World Youth Day (Buenos Aires 1987), the photo of a rose, and a small wooden album made in the shape of a book, with the picture of the Blessed Mother on one side and on the other side there were different original images: Jesus, the Guardian Angel, the Unity Cross, the Shrine, Father Kentenich..When everyone had received their gift (they very carefully chose the one they liked best) there was something else: chocolate! They were asked to think about a person who had treated them well during the last few days, so that they could take that person a chocolate. They were also asked to think of someone who had treated them badly, and to take that person two! Someone who made fun of himself took the whole package.
The Schoenstatters sang with great enthusiasm in Spanish, the prayer of Father Reinisch: " You are the greatest sign..Make me an apostle of Schoenstatt, I will be a knight, and I will die smiling, beloved MTA! And they did not have to say anything else as to what Schoenstatt meant to them. You could feel it, you could hear it! They thanked all those who had accepted to travel to Schoenstatt with them, so they could understand the "why" and "how" of their commitment and what had attracted them. "Here I am Mother, as an offering of love!"
Simply: being here and adoring
Then there was a specially delicious luncheon in House Sonnenau: "We arrived at 2:00 p.m. and we were greeted with much affection!", (they knew that in Germany this was not the appropriate time for lunch). "I hadn’t eaten anything so delicious in weeks, I have to come back!" "And there was even dessert!" "I had told you that in Schoenstatt you had to know House Sonnenau and Sister Lisann, otherwise you would be missing something!" Finally, they all went to the Original Shrine together. They all sat on the ground and there were many questions, stories.until the Original Shrine was free and they could enter.
Nicolas, from Chile, began to play the guitar and to sing, and little by little they all gathered around…The Tabernacle was open, Jesus and Mary were waiting for the youth "with open doors and open hearts…and an earthen vessel, widely open, received all the joys, all that made them happy, but also all the difficulties that many of the youth wanted to offer…"
" May the Blessed Mother of the Redeemer, who we will remember in August in the Assumption to Heaven, watch over everyone who prepares to participate in World Youth Day. May She, who always precedes us on the pilgrimage of faith, guide the youth who are seeking true goodness and authentic joy ." said Pope Benedict at the conclusion of the Angelus, a paragraph that all the German news agencies "forgot" to report.
They prayed the short consecration prayer together, each one in his own language, then the Our Father, then they simply stayed there adoring him.
Some still went to the Shrine of the Families, others who had arrived late for Mass, paricipated in the Spanish Eucharist in House Marienau, others went to Mount Sion, others simply sat down to comment about the experiences of the day. "It has been a beautiful day, said a young man from Paraguay. "Surely, I will return". It was time to return,to return to the preparation for World Youth Day that will start in two weeks.
"I would like to invite the youth who believe in all the world, even those who will not be able to participate in such an extraordinary ecclesial event, to unite in a common spiritual pilgrimage towards the sources of our faith", the Holy Father said.
"According to the happy intuition of the beloved Pope John Paul II ,– he explained,- the World Youth Day constitutes a privileged encounter with Christ, with a clear conscience that only He can offer human beings the fullness of life, of joy and of love".
Translation: Celina M Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA