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La conferencista, la Hna. Elizabeth Parodi, con familias de Ciudad del Este The speaker, Sr. Elizabeth Parodi, with families from Ciudad del Este Die Referentin, Schw. Elizabeth Parodi, mit Familien aus Ciudad del Este |
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El lugar: Santuario de Ciudad del Este The place: Shrine in Ciudad del Este Tagungsort: das Heiligtum von Ciudad del Este |
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Hna. Elizsabeth Parodi Sr. Elizabeth Parodi Schw. Elizabeth Parodi |
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Durante la conferencia During the conference Während des Vortrags |
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Intercambio con la Hermana Edna Sharing with Sister Edna Im Gespräch mit Schw. Edna |
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Tiempo para charlar Refreshments - and time to talk Erfrischungen – und Zeit zum Austausch Fotos: Javier Cabral © 2007 |
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PARAGUAY, Gloria de Ruiz Diaz. "Father, I am grateful, for what you have revealed to the little ones", reads one of the many posters with quotations and photos of the Founding Father, that the university students had prepared to set the atmosphere of the place where the family gathered to listen to the conference "Schoenstatt Family: You have a Father", presented by Sister M. Elzateth Parodi.
In addition to the petals of roses that covered part of the little porch, there was a little candy and a little card with Father’s telephone for each participant; all these beautiful details were an anticipation of the warmth with which Sister Elizabeth would develop the rich subject.
Referring to the mission of the Daughter Shrine: Portal of the Trinity Garden of the Father’, Sister began by saying that "The Portal", is a symbol of openness and that it held much meaning in relation to the subject, "To open the doors of the heart".
The charisma of Father Kentenich
In order to speak about Father Kentenich, we should first understand his "Charisma", According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church a Charisma is a gratuitous gift from God, that does not demand a counterpart, to be placed at the service of the Church and in retrospect, it is possible to understand the misgiving which its acceptance has caused in the bosom of the Catholic Church, since for fear of losing unity, it does look well on the originality of certain persons and movements, that have a certain charisma and that tries to carry out some kind of innovation, in the rites, in the attachments in everything that is already structured.
The charisma of the Founder, his specific mission is to Be a Father, to be an icon, a transparency of God the Father and to be a person who is well formed and educated by Mary, he exercised this paternity as an educator, who not only transmitted Marian devotion; rather, he transmitted a Marian education. He was passionate for the human soul; he had a natural ability of accepting people, of sheltering them, of keeping them.
In a garden there is a plurality of elements that make up the garden, and each one has its originality, but in the midst of this plurality there should a central unity. Father presented Schoenstatt as a large "Marian Garden", whose center was the Covenant of Love, the Shrine.
Called to creative loyalty
We, as a family have a spiritual identity, we participate of the charisma of the Founder, it does not matter why we came to Schoenstatt, it does matter why we love each other. At the moment of our walk in the covenant with Mary, each one of us should make a decision, we should internalize the charisma of Father Joseph Kentenich and give our yes to the Founder, because when we give our yes, for example in the Filial Covenant, we not only give it to the person; but rather, we also give it to his charisma.
The children need the Father, we need Father, but we can invert the expression and say: "Father needs us", and he calls us to a Creative Loyalty:, Father Kentenich is not longer with us; we are here; the charisma that God gave our Founder should fill our interior and impulse us to continue his work, to continue his mission as a Schoenstatt Family.
And at the end of the conference we shared the bread that the good God provided in abundance as a family.
Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA