"This is my home, my Schoenstatt Land!"

My experience of World Youth Day and the International Festival: Pablo Idalsoaga, Chile

El Santuario Original, hogar de todos

The Original Shrine, home of all

Das Urheiligtum, Heimat für alle

Chile está presente Chile is present Chile ist dabei!
Encuentro de la juventud de Schoenstatt del mundo Encounter of the Schoenstatt Youth of the whole world Die Schönstattjugend erlebt sich als weltweite Gemeinschaft
En comunión con los heroes In community with the heroes In Verbundenheit mit ihren Helden
Unidos en la alianza, unidos en la misión United in the covenant, united in the mission Verbunden im Liebesbündnis, verbunden in der Sendung Fotos: Ibalaca © 2005

WYD-MOMENTS. The first and most impressive thing for those of us who had not been in Schoenstatt, was our encounter with the Original Shrine, Father’s tomb, the Adoration Church and the tombs of the sodalists heroes, to be in the place where Father along with the sodalists founded the Movement and asked the Blessed Mother to establish herself in this little chapel to convert it into a place of grace. We also meditated at the tombs of the sodalists, who dared to give their life completely for Schoenstatt, offering it for our Family.

This became a challenge for all of us who were there, the challenge to follow their example, to be like them, saints for our time, because today we do not need good persons, not even very good persons, rather we need persons like them we need SAINTS! Every day saints, saints in daily life: to do the ordinary extraordinarily well.

And in addition to all this, we experienced the place of origin which is Schoenstatt; we experienced the graces which the Blessed Mother has for us in this holy land, to perceive the grace of being sheltered, the grace of transformation and the grace of apostolic zeal that our beloved Mother gives us.

It was an encounter with the Schoenstatt Family

During the Youth Festival we met youth from different countries, each one with its own style, its own originality and depth. We could also make fundamental attachments in the life of the Schoenstatt family, we could experience that we are a great Schoenstatt Family.

We experienced "in situ" the real meaning of Father Kentenich’s words in THE HOME SONG, (Hymn of the Home):

Do you know the land so warm and dear
which Eternal Love has built itself:
where noble hearts beat with affection
and bear with each other in the joy of sacrifice;
where they glow and shelter one another
and flow as one into the heart of God;
where streams of love well forth with might
to quench the thirst of the world for love? (Heavenwards, p. 158)

You could breathe each of these words in every corner of our Schoenstatt: everyone felt at home in this warm and familiar land, where each one of us was one of those noble hearts who beat with affection and bore with each other in the joy of sacrifice.

And during each moment of the festival and our stay in Schoenstatt we sheltered each other burning in the fire of the Holy Spirit and flowing toward the heart of the Eternal Father.

A worldwide Covenant of Love

The highlight of the festival was when we as international Schoenstatt youth made a Covenant of Love with Our Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt for the youth of all the world: we placed ourselves into her hands so that She will protect us and in this way an exchange of hearts and interests could be made: She with ours as the worldwide youth of Schoenstatt and we with hers, committing ourselves and offering it all for the Capital of Grace. In this way, from us: streams of love well forth with might to quench the thirst of the world for love, that is, I am sure, the Blessed Mother’s great interest.

From here with our Covenant of Love, "unser weg bewegt": our journey begins. To conquer the world for the Blessed Mother!

Now we can say:
This wonderland is known to me-
It is the meadow radiantly lit by Tabor’s un,
where our Three times Admirable Lady reigns
in the midst of her favorite children,
loyally rewarding each gift of love
with the manifestation of her glory
and immeasurably abundant fruitfulness:
It is my home, my Schoenstatt Land! (Heavenwards, p. 159)

Translation: Celina M Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA