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Tucumán recuerda al P. Horacio Sosa Remembering Fr. Horacio Sosa Im Gedenken an P. Horacio Sosa |
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23 de diciembre en el Santuario de Tucumán: recuerdo December 23 in Tucumán: remembrance of the three recently deceased Schoenstatt members 23. Dezember in Tucumán: Gedenken an die drei kürzlich verstorbenen Schönstätter |
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Dolor, gratitud, confianza Pain, gratitude, confidence Schmerz, Dankbarkeit, Vertrauen Fotos: Losada © 2007 |
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Hna. Margarita, fallecida el 18 de diciembre Sr. Margarita, who died on December 18 Schw. Margarita, am 18. Dezember verstorben Foto: Archiv © 2007 |
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ARGENTINA, Silvia Losada. Evening was falling at the Shrine of the Blessed Mother, December 23rd, so close to Christmas. When Mass ended, Father Martin Aversano invited everyone to go on a pilgrimage carrying the Blessed Sacrament from the multi-use hall to the Shrine and then to the Unity Cross in remembrance of the new lights in the eternal Schoenstatt.
There was much affliction and at the same a great confidence from those who smile upon us from heaven! There was a semblance of each one of our beloved dead, dead to the world, but enjoying the eternity of God. Father Hernán was known by few of the Family from Tucumán, but he is remembered for his wisdom, his contribution to the Church, and his generosity to the needy.
From the garden of the Republic to the Garden of Mary.
Sister Margarita was from Tucumán and she belonged to the Girls’ Youth; she chose to consecrate herself to God and her giving of self was complete. Many prayers, contributions to the Capital of Grace, and asking for the miracle of her healing through the intercession of Father Kentenich accompanied her brief illness. But God’s will was something different.
Sister Maria Pilar Carréra wrote the following paragraph in her memory:
In the year 2000, John Paul II was already old and weak, but with the forceful strength of his testimony, he urged the youth not to be afraid of being saints of the new millennium. Sister M. Margarita, who consecrated herself to God during that year, was never afraid to respond to this call, she was not afraid to live in holiness and to die in holiness. She did this without great extraordinary deeds; rather she was like a daisy that, in the words of Father Juan Pablo Cattoggio’s homily from her Funeral Mass, was transplanted from the garden of the Tucumán Republic to the Garden of Mary in the Community of the Sisters. Both gardens can be joyfully offered to the Father as a mature fruit that fills us with pride and of hope.
Father Horacio Sosa: Do not forget, Schoenstatt, that your father was a prophet
And we get to Father Horacio Sosa. His death was unexpected and sorrowful for all the Schoenstatt Family in Argentina and beyond.
Everyone has a personal experience about this Priest who knew how to shelter, lead, and above all to love.
My fondest memory of him was his last trip to Tucumán, not long ago. Since he was very jovial I told him: ‘Father, you are thinner and you look more like Father Kentenich.’ He smiled and he answered, ‘Pray for me.’
We continued to converse until Holy Mass began.
It was my last encounter with him and I am grateful to God and to the Blessed Mother for sharing this time with him. His smile remains etched on my heart and surely he will continue smiling in heaven.
He left a mission to fulfill: Don’t forget family, that your father was a prophet. Don’t forget, Sion, that your father was a prophet. Don’t forget Institute, Federation, Branch, and Campaign that your father was a prophet.
Children of a God of Life
It seems appropriate to include the letter from the Diocesan Leaders of the Schoenstatt Family from Tucumán, Claudia and Rainer Wittich, in regard to the recent deaths:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Covenant,
Yesterday during prayer time, we made our tribute to the three beautiful lives who returned to the eternal Schoenstatt. After these days filled with tears because of the departure of these loved ones, we can look to heaven with the joy of knowing that they are already enjoying the presence of God and of his Love.
They left between the 18th and the 20th, protected by the Divine Light and with Divine Confidence.
Looking within our hearts and at the will of God, it seems that through them he wanted to show us the experience and the reality of the Graces of the Shrine:
Sister Margarita has embodied the Grace of sheltering with her daily giving of self to ease the suffering of the sick.
Father Horacio has shown us the Grace of transformation of the heart by spreading the Pedagogy of the Founding Father with so much wisdom and clarity, teaching us to educate our hearts and to make them docile to the will of the Father and to make of them a home that is more welcoming for Grace. And Father Hernán, has constantly called us to the Schoenstatt mission and that of the Church to make the new evangelization a reality for the Church on the New Shores.
Even at the moment of death they have invited us to submerge ourselves into the fountain of life, in the Schoenstatt Land where Mary leads us to Him, who is the ‘way, the truth and the life.’
And when ours die, from Joseph Engling forward – they do it as seeds:
They return to the bosom from whence they came and they give new life.
With the confidence of ‘Children before God,’ we welcome the Child Jesus on this Christmas Eve, who brings us the Love of the Father and the guarantee that He fulfills his promises and he awaits us in the House to which we are all invited.
United in the Strength of the Covenant,
Rainer and Claudia Wittich
Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA/amj