An Easter walk in Schoenstatt

The cold breeze of death moves away... the light of a new day makes its way

Sr Erwin Wolf responsable de que los alrededores del Santuario Original estén más lindos. Erwin Wolf cares for the beauty of the grounds around the Original Shrine Erwin Wolf sorgt Tag für Tag dafür, dass es rund ums Urheiligtum schön ist
El amor se nos entrega en cada instante. We can find love in each moment Liebe schenkt sich uns in jedem Augen-Blick
La primavera llega a Marienau "Leben an der Quelle" Spring reaching Marienau Der Frühling erreicht die Marienau, Leben an der Quelle
Por qué los árboles no tiemblan? Why do the trees not shiver? Warum zittern die Bäume nicht? Fotos: Marañon © 2006
El Santuario Original en brillo pascual The Original Shrine in  Easter beauty Das Urheiligtum in österlichem Glanz Foto: POS Fischer © 2006

SCHOENSTATT, rlm. It is eight o’clock in the morning. In the silence an apparent stillness is hidden. The last strikes of cold weather is awakening us. We could tremble along with the tall trees that are showing the luminous green of new leaves, as if nothing special was happening. Just like every morning, for twenty years, Edwin Wolf, with his wheelbarrow and one or two cigarettes sweeps and gathers the fallen branches close to the Original Shrine.

"Happy Easter", says Edwin Wolf. The wrinkles on his face deepen his expression they express experience. A cold, white, and enveloping mist is lifting. It is struggling to stay…but it goes away…the sun, which is becoming stronger, adds its color and announces that night has ended.

"That night, which by the way is very human, goes by in a constant manner once and again in our day to day existence. Giving up things, losses, deceptions. Giving up desires, projects, good things. The loss of loved ones that we love, that we want with us, that we miss. The things that we did not accomplish, or maybe did not accomplish them as we would have liked, the nights that we snuffed out the candle hoping for a better day tomorrow, the moments that end, and all the moments that mark time, a finite existence, of limits for us.

Every darkness can be a source of light

To live Easter is open oneself to transformation. Successive deaths and births, deaths and births, deaths and births…Every darkness can be a source of light, each death can be a birth.

"What do I do?" askied Edwin Wolf surprised that he was the protagonist of an Easter report… I work here…my job is to sweep, to clean around the Shrine, to gather the trash from the containers, to gather the branches that fall…" Just like the trees, a piece of death constitutes living life.

"Family? I don’t have one…I live in Bundesheim, the Covenant House nearby", he tells us as he takes a cigarette out of his pocket, and he warms his hands…"to work here is beautiful. Sometimes there are many people, all kinds of people…and at other times there are less people, but I like it."

Easter arrives when we live our daily lives with simplicity. Without noticing what we lack, rather to be open to the only thing that we have, our reality of today. Less fantasy, perhaps, but much more joy.

A smile

We have the opportunity to turn a page and to start over. We can free ourselves…polish and freshen up what each of us has…where are the affectionate embraces? The sweet looks? The small gestures of love?

Everything can be a smile for us if we allow ourselves to be loved. Love is given to us at each moment.

"To work here?...is usually…a lot of work!! And in Spring there will be much more work…but I like it."

Time follows it course…the invasive and penetrating darkness is left behind. A cold, white, enveloping mist struggles to remain…but is it leaving…the sun that shines more strongly, adds its touch of color and announces that night has ended. It is Easter, life has conquered death…why don’t the trees tremble?

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA