Word, song and silence

Regional Journey of the Dawnbreakers at the Shrine of Los Pinos, Chile

En la ermita Am Bildstock Morgenwache am Bildstock
Todos los participantes frente del Santuario All of the participants in front of the Shrine Alle Teilnehmer zusammen vor dem Heiligtum
Encuentro Encounter Begegnungen
Durante la conferencia During the talk Beim Vortrag
Taller Workshop Gruppenarbeit
Coro Choir Chor Fotos: Madrugadores Los Pinos © 2008

CHILE, MRC. The first Encounter of the Region V Dawnbreakers from Chile was held on March 29^th at the Shrine of Los Pinos with the motto: "Prayer, nourishment of our dawn breaking". It was a great joy for the community of Los Pinos to host and to welcome all the brothers from the other communities of the Region and the future community of Cerro Placeres to this holy land,

All the communities arose early to arrive at the Wayside Shrine of Los Pinos at the appointed time to celebrate the Regional Dawn Breaking. The owners of the house arrived at 6:00 a.m. to set into motion everything that had been prepared the previous day: the registration table, flags, lamps, parking, candles, altar, sound system, etc. etc.

Like old times, they celebrated the dawn breaking at the Wayside Shrine (where everything was celebrated before the blessing of the Shrine) outdoors they once again experienced once that very special time from darkness to light while they prayed.

The community from Concon prepared the dawn breaking with a beautiful reflection on how to pray; the text was taken from an encyclical of John Paul II. With visual aids and songs the dawn breaking progressed. Then they accompanied our Lord on pilgrimage to the Shrine where they also renewed their consecration to Mary and they concluded with the Hymn of Maipu" or the "Joy of the Road".

The community from Agua Santa prepared the breakfast and good coffee at the recreational area; other communities surprised everyone with the best of their region: delicious avocado pears and tomatoes, gigantic grapes. To make the breakfast complete, Quillota presented a serenade especially prepared for the encounter with guitars, accordion and clapping of hands so that everyone could join the ambience.

To deepen in prayer

They began punctually in the amphitheatre of the Youth House with the introduction of the communities that attended and of Father Ricardo Arellano, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, from Placeres, in Valparaiso; he introduced the two persons who accompanied him and he said that they were meeting on some Saturdays to "practice" and that he hopes that in the future months they will have a community of dawnbreakers in his parish. Everyone awaits this founding and they will pray for them.

Octavio Galarce very clearly explained how the dawnbreakers began, who they were and the meaning of this walk. Father Jorge Zegers continued presenting the main subject: "Prayer: fundamental basis of the dawnbreakers. Using a visual outline he progressed point by point explaining how to pray, feel, live and deepen in prayer. He explained how to prepare the heart and all the body for prayer and how to pray in daily life. The presentation lasted more than an hour. There was a short break and then Alejandro Gonzalez introduced the workshops that would be carried out by mixed groups so that the experience of each community could be shared and they could comment on the presentations by Father Jorge and Octavio.

While the workshops were taking place, the priests were available and many men received the Sacrament of Penance.

Prayer, nourishment at dawn

Lunch was served after the workshop. The work groups continued at the tables where an exchange of ideas and a delicious meal were shared. Dessert was brought directly from the Valley of Aconcagua, delicious and very large grapes that everyone enjoyed.

During the afternoon there were meetings by communities to share the morning experiences and so that each community could plan for the coming year and to determine how they could interiorly strengthen themselves. A few minutes before 4:00 p.m. the choir indicated the arrival of the Diocesan Bishop, Monsignor Gonzalo Duarte, who would con-celebrate the closing Mass and he presented his pastoral message, centered on recognizing Christ at each moment and everywhere. The encounter ended in front of the Shrine where they renewed their Consecration to Mary. Coffee and refreshments were served and there were warm embraces at the time to bid farewell so they could again share this experience of personal and communitarian enrichment.

"Everyone helped with their work so that they could share their community experiences hoping that is encounter was successful in all aspects and that it would improve their prayer life, the nourishment of dawn breaking," commented Paul Johnson, from the community of Los Pinos. The task at hand is to "search for the accent of originality of our own community and of its Dawnbreaking and in conclusion the most important thing, the challenge of improving in prayer, combined with spreading the wonderful "Word, song and silence". Without prayer there is no Christian or Dawnbreaker life. This conclusion was presented in one of the work groups during the workshop". Manuel Montesinos, from La Placilla, writes: "The dawnbreakers of Placilla have ended our regional journey with renewed energy to bring our mission to life, and to implement the words of Octavio Galarce and Father Jorge Zegers and of the work during the inter-communitarian workshops; we want to allow ourselves to be educated in a personal encounter with Christ through meditation in silence and then in silent adoration at definite times, we want to improve our way of praying and of dialoguing with our Lord.

We also discovered new forms of facing our organization. Furthermore, this year, we want to offer our Mother and Queen a Wayside Shrine.

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA