Where for the first time our beloved Mother, the MTA, directed her gaze and her arms to the world

Victoria Zorrilla and Lucía Ailán, of the Girls’ Youth from Parana relate their experience of World Youth Day

Vicky y Lucia, de Paraná, Argentina, en Schoenstatt

Vicky and Lucia, from Paraná, Argentina, in Schoenstatt

Vicky und Lucia aus Parana, Argentinien, in Schönstatt

Oración en el Santuario Original Praying in the Original Shrine Gebet im Urheiligtum
Parece un sueño... It seems a dream... Wie ein Traum…
El lugar mas importante del mundo… The most important place in the world... Der wichtigste Ort der Welt…
Lugar de la Alianza... Place of the Covenant... Ort des Liebesbündnisses...
...y del compromiso ...and of commitment …und des Einsatzes Fotos: POS Fischer © 2005

WYD-MOMENTS. Everything was a dream… Since the day that Germany dominated our thoughts, we worked hard to conquer it.

Rain, sunny days, and different changes in the weather were not an obstacle for our sale of sandwiches, sweetmeats, etc.

The moment for which we prepared for such a long time

As the sales increased, the moment was getting closer, the days that we had always imagined were nearing…the most important thing was that friends, relatives, acquaintances and strangers were a part of this dream; because everyone was willing to help us.

And this is how each one of us felt, everyone was marching with us, each one had left a part of themselves in our hearts.

The day arrived to board the plane! Finally we were parting for what we had longed for since such a long time, what we had dreamed ...

Ezeiza International Airport... Our first flight! The far away sky now accompanied our surroundings. A sign in front of us indicated the places, and all of sudden Frankfurt, Germany! But better still we were arriving in Schoenstatt! That place that every Schoenstatt yearns to reach.

Your mind goes blank and your heart seems to leave your body

And we were there, stepping on this ground, where for the first time our beloved Mother, the Blessed Mother, directed her gaze and her arms to the world.!

And all of a sudden one day we found ourselves standing in front of the Original Shrine, and your mind goes blank and your heart seems to leave your body.

It was the moment we were waiting for and we knelt before Her, in this place full of Grace and we could feel how our Mother spoke to us and you experienced it so intimately you even felt that she was real and that she was not in front of us rather she was at our side.

But we must say that we had the greatest grace of Sealing our Covenant of Love in the Original Shrine…and we were taken back to 1914, on an 18^th of October in front of Father Kentenich who was in the back of the little chapel and we found ourselves surrounded by the first sodalists, along with our sisters, giving our unanimous yes to the Blessed Mother, to begin to set out on the project of our Life. Then we saw the image Father Joseph become stronger and our heart is flooded with holy joy: through him Mary speaks to us.

The story of which we are now a part began there. We are not individual entities who commit and entrust ourselves to Mary. We are a single Yes that extends throughout the world. And that Yes is very unique, it is above all, a "Home of Love".

No longer "that minority"

A few days later we left for Cologne, to World Youth Day. We were already impressed with the words World Youth Day and above all with the word Youth!

What we experienced cannot be explained with words…what was it that united so many youths, so different from us, the different cultures…? Christ had conquered us!

All of sudden you feel as if you were in heaven, in Paradise, and you are convinced of it, above all, when the head of the Church is present.

You cannot explain the emotion that one feels when a million youth yell Benedict! with great spirit. Because your eyes do not see one person, your eyes see Christ himself on earth.

During those days we were able to discover that this Spirit of giving your all for the highest ideals and to defend the greatest values is in the hearts of one million youth.

We discovered that we were no longer "that minority" and that we can conquer the world with all our strength. Responding to Christ’s sending forth: "Go out and inflame the World!"