Fill the Jars!

Silver anniversary of the Shrine in Weiskirchen. Cardinal Lehmann gave jars to the representatives from the parishes of the Diocese of Mainz

Musical: Llenad las tinajas Musical: Fill the jars Mini-Musical: Füllt die Krüge
Actores: minutos despues, salen al encuentro de los participantes para buscar  su „agua“ Actors: minutes later they set out to collect „water“ from the participants Die Darsteller gehen gleich los, um „Wasser“ in die Krüge zu sammeln
Misa festiva Festive Holy Mass Beim Festgottesdienst
Cardenal Karl Lehmann Cardinal Karl Lehmann Kardinal Karl Lehmann
Merienda Coffee break Am Schluss gab es Kaffee und Kuchen bei schönstem Wetter
Llenad las tinajas Fill the jars Füllt die Krüge Fotos: POS Fischer © 2007 Albúm de fotos – photo album – Fotoalbum

GERMANY, mkf. Whoever enters an Italian Church and sees a jar, will know that the Campaign of the Pilgrim MTA is there. If this happens in Germany, they will know they are in the Diocese of Mainz. On June 24^th, on the occasion of celebrating the silver jubilee of the Shrine of Everyday Sanctity, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz and president of the German Episcopal Conference, passed out the jars – which by their style recall the wedding feast at Cana – to the representatives of numerous parishes in his diocese. "Fill the jars" is visibly written on them. Bring the water of your lives, the clear and fresh water and also the used and contaminated water, and give Mary the opportunity to ask Jesus for a miracle. He will do it gladly, but he will not be able to do it without this water. "Everyday Sanctity": the name of the Shrine should become a vital process.

Passing out the large jars at the end of Holy Mass went very quickly, surprisingly quick. The parishes were called up and they received their jars. They were received by pastors, by Schoenstatters from the places and by representatives from the parish communities who had come especially for this event. At the end, Cardinal Lehmann remained for a while on the walkway in front of the Shrine where there were still some jars. Will someone else still come for a jar? Not today, perhaps later on…..

This was the culminating point of the silver jubilee celebration of the Shrine and everything presented on this sunny day was in preparation for this moment where the influence of the Shrine on the local Church was broadened.

The Shrine and Schoenstatt Center can be seen from Expressway A3 at the exit for Hanau. On the outskirts of the city where the Rhine and the Meno flow together, they demonstrate that God is there….. that He can be searched for….. that he can be found and loved not only in the churches, in the Virgin and on Sundays, but also amid daily life, in the cities – where it is estimated that half of the world population will live in the future – amid the laborers and in the professions….. while he/she bathes….. cleans the house…..surfs on the internet, makes plans, travels by taxi or plays soccer.

Once again like at the Wedding Feast at Cana

After the welcome given in the morning by the new diocesan director of the Movement, Fr. Gerold Reinbott, and a varied program – discussion groups, presentations, booths, display of the work done by the youth and activities for children and adolescents – and the picnic lunch, a "mini-musical" for children began in the early afternoon on the walkway of the Shrine by the author-singer, Wilfried Rorig. There had been a torrential rain the day before and now the sun was shining brightly in a profoundly blue sky and the people were so happy when clouds provided a bit of shade. In the meantime, the park filled with parked cars; the area near the bushes with bicycles; and the land facing the Shrine filled with many people. There were about 1,100 people according to the evaluation of the "experts." There were especially many children and young people.

The musical performance presented the Wedding Feast at Cana; the jars, since the water was turned into wine, and then they jumped forward ten years to show how the married life of the couple had become a boring and unfruitful relationship. Then, by means of a song, they presented the idea of how the miracle can reoccur as it happened then…..that today the water can be transformed into wine, into the wine of love, into the wine of a new beginning…..of happiness.

It can be done! Only that the jar must be filled with water. This was the message of the musical which was very moving. In the shade of the umbrellas and with a lemonade in hand, the people were attentive and expectant.

The vital process of the jar

Much can be said – theologically, psychologically, from the aspect of Schoenstatt theory – to explain the phenomenon of the jar, the Biblical reference, the Treasury of Grace. Or, it can be made simple, counting on the power of the vital process. Professor Hubertus Brantzen opted for the latter. He invited those present to come up, one by one, to fill the jar…..he invited them to take a small piece of notepaper (there was one in the program booklet), the pen and to think, and then to write down what is difficult, what is really troublesome, what weighs one down, what makes one happy, a decision or task which is underway, what is fearful, what is paralyzing. Mother, I give you what makes me happy, I give you a painful experience.

I ask you for the persons who are important to me, for what moves me, for my special intentions. I bring you my life…..

He invited them to deposit the notepaper into the jar which the children had been passing around among the people since the musical presentation. And now, here, Mary can be heard: Lord, they have no more wine. To live Biblically means to do what is in the Bible. It means to fill the jar with water because the Lord wants this, exactly this and nothing else. When the wine runs out – in marriage, in the profession, in the parish, in the Church, in the hot topics of society – the Lord does not want us to make wine appear through some sort of magic. He wants our water in order to transform it into wine.

The jars are taken to the altar at the offertory of the closing Eucharist. After Holy Mass, the notes will be burned. "What is written on them is only read by the good God," said Professor Brantzen. Surely, He reads it…..

" We receive many gifts through the Schoenstatt Movement in our diocese"

"We receive many gifts through the Schoenstatt Movement in our diocese," said Cardinal Karl Lehmann at the beginning of the solemn Holy Mass and he expressed his gratitude for the commitment with the local Church. In the homily, he mentioned again the topic of "the lack of water" and he then recalled the Gospel passage of the Wedding Feast at Cana taking into account the jar that was "waiting" in front of the Shrine: Let us all offer our water, he said: our work, our joy, our pain. Let us also bring our somewhat contaminated water, that water which may not seem can be revived.

We must do what He tells us, just as the Mother of the Lord says. Some of the words Jesus speaks to us, we do not immediately understand. We are called like all of the great men of faith in the history of the Church, "by your Word," even without understanding and to live in the faith. "Yes, do you want to wait for a miracle?" they sometimes ask us with sarcasm. Our reply: Yes, we wait for a miracle…..the miracle that the water becomes wine. In daily life, we are often tired, disillusioned, and in not good humor. This is the water which must go to the jar, and when we do it, said the Cardinal, then something happens within us. This is the miracle of Cana, a miracle in daily life. When Jesus leaves us, then, according to Cardinal Lehmann, it is She, Mary, who comes closer to Him and to us…..it is She who approaches and says to us: do what He tells you, and He says: fill the jars.

When Cardinal Lehmann, along with the many priests present, gave the blessing at the end of Holy Mass, there was a profound moment of silence. While the flames burned the notes in the jar, it was felt in a special way, that the Shrine broadened its radio waves, that something great could be seen. Fill the jars!

• Video
• Audio Holy Mass of the feast day (in German)
• Audio "Fill the jars" (Fullt die Kruge) (in German) (Prof. Brantzen)
• Schoenstatt in the Diocese of Mainz: www.schoenstatt-mainz.de
• More on the search for footsteps and the jar: www.spurensuche.info

Translation: Carlos Cantú Family Federation La Feria, Texas USA 070407