Visiting Maria - another "Tour of Hope"

Students of Reoboth Christian School in Gallup, New Mexico, started their "Tour of Hope" in Schoenstatt

Estudiantes, profesores, padres de Reoboth en Sonnenau Students, teachers, parents of Rehoboth School in Sonnenau Schüler, Lehrer und Eltern der Reoboth-Schule in der Sonnenau
Un regalo para cada uno ... A gift for each one... Ein Geschenk für jeden…
Cartas a la Mater A letter to the Blessed Mother Ein Brief an die Gottesmutter
Un momento de encuentro con Maria ... y con Dios A moment of encounter with Maria… and God Eine Begegnung mit Maria… und Gott Fotos: POS Fischer © 2007

SCHOENSTATT, mkf. They came to visit Maria … Maria’s home, Maria’s school, Maria’s country – and Maria’s Schoenstatt: 35 students of Reoboth Christian School, and nine teachers and parents, all united in gratitude for a 17 year old girl, Maria Hölscher, "who has touched all of our lives", as one of the teachers said. Maria spent seven months in a student exchange program at Reoboth Christian School. On Palm Sunday in 2006, she died in a car accident. Maria’s mother had invited the students to come to Germany on another Tour of Hope where Maria had participated shortly before her death in the School Choir’s Tour of Hope to New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The students will perform a narrow and full schedule of choir presentations (the big concert is Friday, June 1, at 19.00 in the Rheinbach Theatre) and visits with cultural background. The trip was possible thanks to generous sponsoring both in the USA and in Germany.

The beginning of the Schoenstatt visit was a challenge. Procedures at the Frankfurt Airport were longer than expected by the time the students arrived tired, hungry, and a bit nervous around 3:00 PM at House Sonnenau. Their compressed timetable was already running short even before the actual visit begins. An unexpected third-party intervention in the program added more challenges and caused the group to miss the Original Shrine experience, a highlight of their stay.

But Maria seemed to welcome her friends from heaven… in her house where she visited so often. "She not only loved the atmosphere of the house", shares her mother, who together with some friends welcomed the group at the airport and accompanied them to Schoenstatt, "she also loved the food here!" And so did the students. This is the house, where Maria celebrated her Covenant of Love in April 2005, which made a difference in her life. On August 10, Maria sealed the Covenant of Love for the youth of the world, here in Schoenstatt. Nobody of the 2,500 or so youth present on that day so far brought thirty-five young people from another country to Schoenstatt. "Now you are here and Maria may smile and say: I made it!" It is tangible: They are all Maria’s friends who lost a friend in this tragic accident, and they all still mourn the loss. In addition, they want to know what made this place, Schoenstatt, so special for her. The Schoenstatt Girls’ Youth from Cologne, Maria’s diocese, sent a welcome letter a beautiful sign of unity.

A smile and a hug from Heaven

"This has been such a special hour for me", said one of the parents. "Maria was really present", said a girl, holding a little MTA picture in her hands like a precious treasure. "We feel part of this, Schoenstatt…" The twenty minutes at the tomb of Father Kentenich were an experience of heaven touching earth for all those present. The Schoenstatt Girl’s Youth had sponsored candies and small wooden pictures of the MTA in slightly different forms like those offered during the Youth Festival in 2005, Maria’s last experience at Schoenstatt. All were invited to take one of the pictures as a gift from Maria as a reminder of her, her faith, and her Covenant for difficult moments. The few remaining pictures are taken for friends who could not come with the group. Then, all were invited to write the names of loved ones – also their own names – on sheets of papers and leave them at this place, giving them and all their needs, sorrows and joys to the care of Mary and Father Kentenich, and the prayers of the Adoration Sisters. There were tears and smiles… The prayer of "Our Father" and a spontaneous prayer for blessing and healing follows; at the end, students, teachers, and Germans smiled at each other, hugged each other as a sign of the loving embrace experienced in these moments. "We can be God’s smile and hug for each other", one of the teachers said, visibly moved. "This is incarnation continued, Jesus in us…"

A final song of praise to God in the Adoration Church, farewells, and the bus set off… A Tour of Hope has had a blessed beginning.

Where is Maria? - In Heaven