To love as He

Eucharist presided by Bishop Francois Garnier, Archbishop of Cambrai

OCTOBER WEEK, mkf. "To love as You love"…..A song which was continuously repeated during the Youth Festival in the night celebrations of the Covenant of Love in the Original Shrine. To love as You love, Jesus. To love as He loves: this was the theme of the homily by Bishop Francois Garnier, Archbishop of Cambrai, at the solemn Holy Mass on Sunday, the 16^th of October, marking the anniversary of John Paul II’s election as Supreme Pontiff…..this occurred 27 years ago also during an October Week. The choir accompanied by the organ and a flute strengthening the great number of priests…..the presence of the Archbishop…..and as a special gift, the reception of the Eucharist under both species…..made this celebration a worthy festivity for the closing of the Year of the Eucharist while the Synod of Bishops is gathered in Rome.

The Archbishop of Cambrai is in Schoenstatt since last Friday. He wanted to know Schoenstatt: the presence of the Shrine of Unity in his archdiocese and the encounter with Joseph Engling awakened his interest and the desire to experience it first hand. On this Sunday, he presided at the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist in which he made a short, biblical meditation on the words "To love as He" using the words of Jesus.

"See how I have loved Matthew, the banker and tax collector; he cannot believe that I have called him and invited him to leave everything and follow me. I did it and I called him.

See how I called Zacchaeus. He could not believe that I invited myself to his home. I did it and Zacchaeus gave to the poor a large portion of his belongings.

See how I loved the Samaritan woman; she could not believe that a man could awaken in her the desire for life.

See how I loved the adulterous woman; she could not believe that a Jew would protect her.

See how after I was crucified I loved the good thief; he did not count on my telling him that ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise.’

See how I loved Peter in spite of the fact that he denied me; see how I loved Paul in spite of the violence with which he treated the disciples. See how I also loved Judas in spite of his treason.

And see how I love all of you who are here. Perhaps you do not believe that all are called to holiness, that we are all invited to be saints.

Love one another as I have loved you…..without taking into account race, nationality, religion. Love one another as I love. Learn from me to give without limits or without measure…..In Schoenstatt you receive everything to follow the call, to love as He!"

Joseph Engling loved as Jesus loved

Is it possible that an Archbishop from Cambrai would arrive in Schoenstatt and not speak of Joseph Engling? No. Bishop Garnier said with obvious respect and joy: "As Archbishop of Cambrai, during the last few months, I discovered his marvelous story. I imagine Joseph Engling as a boy of 12 who already in 1910 had his spiritual schedule and at age 14 decided to become a priest…..a young man who at 16 sealed his Covenant of Love with the Blessed Mother after having listened to Father Kentenich. Thus he was a co-founder of Schoenstatt. In 1915, at age 17, he was prefect of the Junior Sodality…..at 18 he was called to military service in a country at war…..at age 19 he was at the Russian front…..at 20 he was in Verdún, Ypres and Bethune. He experienced the fear of brutal violence…..he prayed a great deal…..he prayed the rosary…..he always participated in Holy Mass…..he took care of the wounded…..he buried the dead…..he looked for food under artillery fire….."He loved as Jesus loved," concluded Bishop Garnier.

The Archbishop also remembered Father Kentenich and his historical Covenant of Love on the 18^th of October of 1914. His love for Mary was tested during the persecution by national socialism…..in the prison bunker in Coblenz…..in his deportation to Dachau…..in the almost four years in which he was a prisoner there. His fidelity was proven in the Episcopal visitation …..during the time of exile…..in the 14 years in which he was separated from his Work. "Yes, he really loved the Church, just as it is inscribed on his tomb: He Loved the Church."

How did he contribute to the presence of God in the world?

He recalled the words of Pope Benedict XVI at the vigil on Camp Mary, the words on the defenseless power of love: he spoke from the hill where the altar was. He had before him a million fragile stars: the candles in the hands of the young people. The Magi, said the Pope, "should change their idea about power, about God and about man and with it change themselves. Now they had seen: the power of God is different to the power of the great ones in the world…..different to the shrill and pompous power of the world. He compares the defenseless power of love which on the cross – and then always in history—succumbs and nevertheless constitutes the new divine reality which is opposed to injustice and restores the Kingdom of God….. The personalities coming from the East, with a gesture of adoration, wanted to recognize this child as their King and put at His service their own power and their own possibilities. They must follow the path of justice.

Serving Him and following Him, they wanted to serve with Him the cause of justice and goodness in the world. In this they were correct. But now they learn that this cannot be done simply from obeying orders given from on high, from a throne. They learn that they must surrender themselves: a gift less than this is little for this King. They learn that their lives must conform to this divine way of executing power, to this way of belonging to God Himself. They must become men of truth, of righteousness, of goodness, of pardon, of mercy. They will no longer ask themselves: How can this serve me? Better still, they will ask themselves: How can I serve so God may be present in the world? They have to learn to lose themselves and precisely in this way, to find themselves. Leaving Jerusalem, they must be faithful to the footprints of the true King, in the following of Jesus….. "

He continued in French: The Magi who come from the East are only the first in a long line of men and women who in their lives have constantly searched with their eyes for God’s star. They have searched for the God who is near us as human beings and has indicated the way. It is the great number of saints –known and unknown—through which God has opened to us the Gospel throughout history, turning the pages, and still doing so today. Their lives reveal the richness of the Gospel as a large illustrated book. They are the luminous star which God has left in the passing of history and continues so today….. Sufficient is to think of figures such as St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Charles Borromeo, the founders of religious orders of the 18^th century who have inspired and guided the social movement, or the saints of our time: Maximilian Kolbe, Edith Stein, Mother Teresa, Father Pio. When we contemplate these figures we understand what <<to adore>> means and what living according to the Child of Bethlehem means, according to Jesus Christ and God Himself.

In the procession of the Saints: Joseph Kentenich, Joseph Engling, Carl Leisner…..

The saints, we have said, are the true reformers. Now I would like to express it in a more radical way: only of the saints, only of God, comes the true revolution, the decisive change of the world….. It is not the ideologies which which save the world, but only fixing our gaze on the living God who is our creator, the guarantor of our freedom, the guarantor of what is really good and authentic. The true revolution consists only on looking at God who is the measure of what is just and at the same time is eternal love. And what can save us if it is not love?"

In this procession of the saints, continued the Archbishop, are surely Joseph Engling, Father Kentenich, Carl Leisner and many other members of the Schoenstatt Family. They, as Edith Stein, Maximilian Kolbe, Marcel Caló, Dietrich Bonhoffer are the most beautiful stars in the flag of Europe, of all the flags of the world. They go before us and it is valid to follow them. Let us love each other as they did, as Jesus loved, with "the defenseless power of love."

Translation: Carlos Cantú La Feria, Texas USA