So that my love will not only be a feeling…a jacket for Jesus

Holy Week began in Schoenstatt

Silvia Losada y Marta Scarponi, domingo de ramos Silvia Losada and Marta Scarponi, Palm Sunday Silvia Losada und Marta Scarponi, Palmsonntag
Procesión de ramos Palm procession Palmprozession
¿Que entregamos a Jesús? What do we give to Jesus? Was legen wir Jesus zu Füßen?
Limpieza de rimavera alrededor del Santuario Original Spring clean-up  around the Original Shrine Frühjahrsputz rund ums Urheiligtum
Sacerdotes y seminaristas de Nigeria con amigos de Argentina Priests and students from Nigeria with friendo from Argentina Priester und Studenten aus Nigeria mit argentinischen Freunden Fotos: POS Fischer © 2006

SCHOENSTATT, mkf. "So that my love will not only be a feeling, just something dazzling that will pass. To not waste my words, and so that my ‘I love you’ will not be empty words, I want to deepen my root in you…Beyond my fears, beyond my insecurity, I want to give you a response: Here I am, to do your will, so that my love will be proved every time I give my ‘YES’ until the end.." Holy Week, is a time to live with Jesus and Mary the complete giving of self for love of us, a time to renew Mary’s "Yes" that wants to echo in the lives of those who commit themselves in the Covenant of Love, to look at Jesus and at their brothers and sisters with Mary’s eyes, to be close to him to their brothers and sisters with her affection, to trust his Father with the same trust she had…even in the midst of fear and insecurity. What do we place at the feet of Jesus when he enters into the Jerusalem of our lives? At that time, Palm Sunday, the people of Jerusalem placed their garments at his feet…and what about us? Do we place at the feet of Jesus the luggage that did not arrive with the flight, the bidding farewell to Schoenstatt perhaps for the last time, or an agenda full of tasks?

It is a cold and sunny day. "Every day is a little less dead and it has a little more life," said Marta Scarponi, from Argentina. "Each day a little more green is seen on the trees, small leaves, but they change everything. Spring is beautiful here! It is to experience Easter." Father Franz Brugger is the main celebrant for the Palm Sunday Mass in the Pilgrim’s Church. The celebration began outside the church; little twigs with boxwood leaves (affectionately called palms because palms do not grow in Germany), with flowers, ribbons and a little cardboard donkey are given to the children who attend. Silvia Losada and Marta Scarponi both take a twig of boxwood that is offered to everyone. "When I get to Argentina, I will not keep it,"said Silvia. It will be given, leaf by leaf, to the missionaries who may never dream of going to Schoenstatt.

Even though the loudspeakers were not working well, the joyful voices of some 75 girls and youth who were participating in a journey for the Girls’ Youth could be heard from House Sonnenau. Echoing were the sounds of the guitar, the flute and Sister Bernadett-Maria’s voice, who was encouraging the people to sing contemporary songs that are not that well known , as well as Father Brugger’s greeting. But there was something that everyone understood: "Who of you - children or adults- are willing to place your jacket at the feet of Jesus?" Then, after the homily, he repeats the question, and yes…two little boys, ran towards the cross and placed their jackets at the foot of the cross. They returned without their beloved jackets, but they were radiant with joy.

At the end of the Mass, Father Brugger asked them to come for their jackets, and it left the adults wondering: What do we place at the feet of Jesus? It doesn’t have to be a jacket…

Thank you Blessed Mother for welcoming me again to your land, our Schoenstatt land!

"Why are farewells always so bad?" asked Silvia Losada, after saying farewell at Father’s tomb. Then she answered herself: "It is the price of the attachments that are woven here...each little corner that one makes his own."

She leaves her testimony of what she experienced in Schoenstatt, where she arrived along with the 46 pilgrims from Argentina, who arrived on April 1^st, but she did not leave with them. "To return to Schoenstatt (she had already been to Schoenstatt in 2004, for the blessing of the Shrine in Rome) filled me with emotion", she commented. "I returned home, to shelter myself in the shadow of the Shrine and to place my life, my service, and to entrust my loved ones in the hands of the Blessed Mother. I went to the places that had touched me so much and that I now feel as part of my existence.

I do not know if I will return to this blessed land, but to remember it is a haven of peace for the soul and of eternal gratitude to God and the Blessed Mother, who allowed this dream to come true.

I am writing these experiences while I am still in Schoenstatt, where I decided to stay for four days to place my thoughts in order.

At Father Kentenich’s tomb, and holding on to his hands in the statue that is at the entrance of the Father Kentenich House, I was only able to renew my covenant with him, "Father, we go with you, your inheritance is our mission." These were days of conversion of hearts and of covenants. Marta Scarponi, from Santa Fe, sealed her covenant with the Blessed Mother, and her prayer, which she prayed with a strong voice, but with tears in her eyes, touched us very much! A new ally for Mary!

My Pilgrim MTA leaves this place loaded with graces, to be transmitted to all the families who await her with much love. Just as Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, she will continue to be the bearer of joy and of the unforgettable memories of her travels through the origins of Christianity.

Thank you Lord for having chosen me to follow you! Thank you Blessed Mother for welcoming me again to your land, our Schoenstatt land!!

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA / Christi Jentz, Milwaukee, USA