New Integration of the Home Shrines in the ‘Shrine of the Families’

 A letter written in Santa Maria, Brazil – 60^th Anniversary of letter calls for a motive to return to the original intention

Fotos no solo de Santuarios Hogares... Photos not only of Home Shrines... Nicht nur Hausheiligtumsbilder kamen...
... sino tambien de familias, hijos, amigos... ...but also of families, children, friends… … sondern auch von Familien, ihren Kindern, ihren Freunden… Fotos: Wolff © 2008

GERMANY, Maria and Ulrich Wolff. On April 15^th, 1948, while in Santa Maria, Brazil, Fr. Kentenich wrote a letter to Fr. Johannes Tick later entitled "Letter from Santa Maria". Fr. Tick was assigned by the Founder to develop that Schoenstatt-Family work in Germany. This letter written for the occasion of a forthcoming conference contained the founding objectives of the Schoenstatt-Family work and is regarded as the "Founding Document of the Family Work". During this Jubilee year, 60 years after the letter’s composition, many families are viewing its context in a new light in terms of the "Home Shrine".

For Schoenstatt families throughout the world, the Home Shrine is the heart of their Schoenstatt spirituality in their marriage and family life at home.

A Net of Home Shrines in the Shrine of the Families: the original intention

This also is expressed in the "Shrine of the Families" in Schoenstatt. When the Family Shrine celebrated its 25^th Year Jubilee in 1996, the German Schoenstatt Family Movement considered what kind of Thanksgiving Gift they could offer to Mary at this festival. It was decided that Home Shrines in the homes of all families were to be encouraged and this action presented to the Mother of God as a gift. Every family was invited to bring a small picture of their Home Shrines to the Shrine of the Families as an expression of her life present in their homes.

These small Home Shrine pictures were tied onto a net. The net stood as a sign in the Shrine of the Families on Mt. Nazareth in Schoenstatt, the place of origin, that all Home Shrines are connected to one another. From thence, the Mother of God as "Queen of Families" is there for all families.

A net of Home Shrines in Europe and in the entire world

In the tone of the first European Home Shrine Congress in Schoenstatt in 1998 (50^th Anniversary of the Letter from Santa Maria), families from other European countries and then also countries outside of Europe engaged themselves in this cross-linking of Home Shrines. The net was an expression of the world-wide conjoined mission of the Home Shrines. Families who came into the Shrine were also motivated to participate in the integration by inviting the Mother of God into their homes in their own Home Shrines.

The Jubilee Year "60^th Anniversary of the Letter from Santa Maria" as a new beginning in the Shrine of the Families

In the following years, the Shrine of the Families has even more developed now into a place in Schoenstatt where many people from all over the world could leave something from themselves. An infinite number of family pictures were brought into the Shrine, pictures that were entrusted to friends who traveled to Schoenstatt, pictures that were sent in the mail to Schoenstatt. The wonderful picture addition aroused amazement and a recognition: Schoenstatt members from all over search for possibilities to be present in the spiritual home place of Schoenstatt in some kind of way as through personal pictures. This experience calls for a new location to be created for these families to leave something personal behind.

In the meantime, the net in the Shrine of the Families overflows with mostly large pictures, and they have already been plastered to the walls as well. And echoes are heard such as, "We look at it and see too many faces. The Home Shrines cannot be seen at all. I can’t concentrate any more during prayer or Mass in the Shrine." "We wish that the Shrine would once again look worthy and beautiful." "Please let yourselves invade something!" There are even voices that like to speak about taking the net down altogether.

Treasure chest and net

Twelve years after the first cross-linking, we would again like to turn to the original intention, namely the Integration of the Home Shrines.

The Jubilee of the "60^th Anniversary of the Letter from Santa Maria" now invites us to embark upon a new measure. This measure is outlined in the letter as follows:

"Take the picture of Our Lady and give her a place of honor in your home. This will then become a shrine in miniature where the picture of grace proves the effect of its graces by creating a holy family land and forming holy family members."

This Jubilee gives families a motive to aim at renewing their lives in their current situations in the Covenant of Love in their Home Shrines. All families are invited to newly fasten their Home Shrines onto the net in the Shrine of the Families at the original place. April 15^th is a good start date and the new connection can then bit by bit show its ripples.

The leaders of the German Family Movement, who are known on site for their tremendous responsibility, considered how this can happen at their last conference:

• We will present the net in its original meaning everywhere in a talk
• The Jubilee of the "Letter from Santa Maria" newly leads us quite plainly to the Home Shrine: "Take the picture…"
• We are putting a "treasure chest" in the Shrine of the Families, in which pictures can be placed – the pictures that were previously in the net. All of the pictures certainly belong to the Shine now and will remain there too!
• Since mid-March, a fresh, currently empty net is hanging in the Shrine on the left side. In this new net, every family can leave an actual Home Shrine picture newly taken starting on April 15^th. The size of the picture (roughly 2x3 inches – about the size of a check card) should not be cropped and should show the private Home Shrine. The Home Shrines stand for the people whom they belong to. With that, the families are present through the Home Shrine pictures. The pictures should be labeled with the year the picture was taken in on the reverse side.
• Other pictures with alternative motives and sizes are for the treasure chest; they are in the truest sense of the word lifted up and binding in this treasure chest so the people who are present in these pictures are part of the Shrine of the Families as well.
• If the families are unable to come to Schoenstatt, there is the possibility to mail the Home Shrine pictures to the following address: Familienbüro, Haus der Familie, Höhrer Str. 111, 56179 Vallendar, Deutschland
• If from time to time the older pictures from the net are laid in the treasure chest, we can still achieve the purposes of the original intention: on the one hand, the net is fashioned beautifully in the long run, and on the other hand every Home Shrine picture really stays in the Shrine!
• Through this new integration, the families can collectively petition Mary in helping them and to clarify all open questions on Mt. Nazareth in Schoenstatt and that this Shrine will more and more be the source of grace for all families.

In the "Letter from Santa Maria", Fr. Kentenich developed the vision that many healthy "Schoenstatt families – islands" evolve, families that are bound to one another – we say today: integration – out of the power of the Covenant of Love for all families to be there. May we keep this in mind as we move ever closer to the Jubilee Year 2014!

On April 15^th, 2008, a Jubilee Celebration Mass will take place in the Shrine at 6:00 pm. Everyone is invited to participate in person or in spirit.

Translation: Melissa Ann Schmid, Rochester, MN, USA