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The jars in the Shrines
Nachrichten - News - Noticias
 published: 2008-05-16

Fill the jars…since nothing comes from nothing

How to transport the spirit not just the ceramic: Schoenstatt in Austria and the mission of the jar

 
Füllt die Krüge! Vom Heiligtum in Wien aus kam die Krug-Strömung in vielen Länder und Familien

¡Llenad als tinajas! – Desde el Santuario de Vienna, Austria, la „corriente de las tinajas“ llegó a muchos países, y a muchas famílias

“Fill the jars” – From the Shrine in Viena , Austria , the idea of the jars came to many shrines and famlies

Füllt die Krüge! Vom Heiligtum in Wien aus kam die Krug-Strömung in vielen Länder und Familien

 

Krug im Heiligtum von Wien

Tinaja del Santuario de Vienna

The jar in the Shrine in Vienna

Krug im Heiligtum von Wien

Fotos: Mitter © 2008

 
Die große Krugprozession in Belmonte am 8. September 2004  

La gran procesión de las tinajas en Belmonte, 8 de septiembre de 2004

The great jar procession in Belmonte, September 8, 2004

Die große Krugprozession in Belmonte am 8. September 2004

Foto: POS Fischer © 2008

 
   

AUSTRIA, Eva and Erich Berger. Psychologists say, "let go." Father Kentenich said: Capital of Grace. The jar is the connection between the two, and nowadays, already in many of the Schoenstatt Shrines. The first jar originated in Austria and is almost exactly the same age as the first and only Austrian Schoenstatt Shrine: twenty-five years.

 Nothing comes from nothing. God wants at least a small collaboration from man to do something big, like at the wedding of Cana. The wine didn’t come from nothing; rather, it came from the water eagerly brought by the servants. Mary told Jesus, "They have no wine." And she tells us, "Do whatever he tells you." Jesus tells us, "Fill the jars with water." And the best wine came from it. That is the mystery. We need Mary so that the water of our lives can be transformed into wine. She needs our collaboration in order to act.

This is what can be read in the new magazine, With Strength in the Midst of Life, Fill the Jars, She will work! published by Schoenstatt in Austria on the occasion of the "Celebration of the Jar," on May 18th.

The large procession of jars in Rome

While this article was being edited – on Thursday, May 15th- an email arrived: Graciela Piva, from Cordoba, Argentina, asked for "enormous favor, at this time of anxiety and need in our family. My brother has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Please, write his name on a paper and place it in the jar in the Original Shrine…"

For twenty-five years, many people have deposited their worries and fears, joys, sacrifices, and efforts in the jar of the Shrine. By doing this they demonstrate their convictions: "Amen. I can stand it. With this I am going to change something." Behind this there is the faith that God can transform the human contributions into special graces. These graces can be received by all people connected with the jar. A net of solidarity has been created. We are not alone, we can count on others, and With Strength in the Midst of Life we can positively face our own situation.

The jar strongly entered the consciousness of the International Schoenstatt Family in the year 2004. "Fill the jar," fill the jar with love for the Church - with this motto the International Schoenstatt Family was convoked to channel the streams of grace from their Shrines to Rome’s Newest Shrine, Matri Ecclesiae, the Shrine of us all. And the symbol was the jar. Those who brought a jar from their Shrines could participate in the large procession to the Shrine with the picture of the Blessed Mother with cardinals and bishops… The variety of jars and the demonstrations of love that they expressed is something impossible to forget. It was more than a beautiful procession, it was much more… "That is how I imagine October 18, 2014," said a young woman a few days ago when she recalled exactly how it was when she placed the jar in front of the Shrine. "At this moment it became my Shrine. Shortly before, I had placed the loss of my job in the jar."

Who is surprised with the fact that meanwhile, the parishes in Italy where Schoenstatt is present can easily be identified by the presence of a jar in their parish churches?

All of this began with a jar in the Shrine of Vienna, during the first Pentecost pilgrimage, on May 31, 1983.

How can the spirit be transported?

It happened last summer: the large celebration in Kahlenberg to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Shrine. It was a magnificent celebration with many guests from the Schoenstatt Movement, from other Movements, and many others. With Strength in the Midst of Life, the president of the General Presidium of Schoenstatt with a very good sense of humor and with kindly and penetrating eyes was present … The piercing gaze was directed at the jar. The kindly gaze also fell on the jar and he was happy because it departed from Kahlenberg. The penetrating gaze referred to the need to do something: "Couldn’t you transport the spirit of the jar to the entire world?"

The Schoenstatt Movement in Austria went through very difficult times. The new leaders of the Movement, the Bergers, formulated the motto: "Let us transport the spirit, not just the ceramic." How do you transport the spirit? It was a burning question. They solved it in their way and they organized a celebration, the Celebration of the Jar, which took place on May 18th of this year in all the dioceses in gratitude for the twenty-five years of the jar.

And to resolve the problem mentioned above, a group produced a brochure; 3,000 copies were printed. The brochure explains what the jar is and it encourages its use. It is a contribution to accomplish the task of taking the mission of the jar to the entire world as was suggested. It will be translated to several languages.

"How often in world history have not small and insignificant beginnings been the source of great and greatest accomplishments?"

On May 24, 1983 the first Pentecost pilgrimage to the Schoenstatt Shrine in Kahlenberg was made; it had been inaugurated during the month of October of the previous year. About 500 pilgrims participated, and the celebrants were Father Beller, Father Krammer, and Bishop Zimmerl (from St. Polten). It was the birth hour of the jar, which at that time was a large vase with a blue paper pasted with scotch tape, where this phrase written in beautiful calligraphy manuscript read: "They have no wine." And since it rained constantly on that Pentecost Sunday, there were large storms in Vienna – the phrase was washed away…Yes, just as it has happened so many times in world history, the small and insignificant was the source of great and greatest accomplishments. (Founding Documents #7, page 31).

Nine months later during the community conference of the Schoenstatt Family in Strebersdorf, small jars were distributed. The motto of that conference was: Our Shrine, source and task of life. The chronicle reads: "…During the course of the conference they better understood what "they have no wine" meant….This contains a double meaning: the Blessed Mother tells us in the Shrine ‘they have no wine’…She tells us that She needs us to help others…And vice versa, it also often happens that we tell the Blessed Mother: we have no wine. We need you, we do not know how to continue, please help us.(...) Then the matter about the jar seemed very simple, the people responded very well when the small jars were distributed after the Holy Mass…"

The idea of the jar departed from Vienna and it reached Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Germany. In the greeting for the celebration of the jar, Father Heinrich Walter wrote:

"I know the Austrians are good, I also know that they can walk through life. That they are creatively independent; this is already known almost throughout the world: the jar and the Academy for the family of Vienna also walk down the same road. The new thing is that now they have passed the Danube and they endeavor to conquer the world. I congratulate you for the celebration of the jar and for the initiative of calling attention about this process of life with the publication of a brochure in several languages. (…)

Three years ago we noticed that our Mount Sion Shrine, in Schoenstatt, did not have a jar. Some of the co-brothers met to initiate a stream. The intention then was "for Sion to live." We wrote this on the back of the jar. Meanwhile, the jar didn’t exist only for us in the community: often visitors even tourists wrote a petition on a piece of paper and deposited it there. It was a beautiful experience when over a period of several weeks every night during the communitarian blessing for the world and the Church, we had a time of quiet so that each one of us could place something in the jar. This is something that is very good: to write something that happened during the day and to deposit it at night. It was a good task for us, for the Fathers, to take care that this act is carried out within the Schoenstatt Family in many places.

On May 18th we will be especially connected with all of you who are considered the pioneers of the jar. The certainty that She will work is deeply rooted in our hearts."

Do you have a boss that makes you explode?

Presently the jars are not only in the Shrines; but, they are also in many Homeshrines. And Mary does work.

Bohumila Sladká of the Institute of Families in the Czech Republic writes:

Our small, seven-year old son had done something bad; he did not do it intentionally, and this bothered him even more. He cried and it was noticeable that he did not know what to do with his feelings of guilt.

I took him to our Homeshrine and we entrusted this real problem to the Blessed Mother. But the little boy was still sad; I could tell this was very difficult for him.

At that moment something occurred to me that also helped me: To write what had happened and to deposit the paper in the jar.

I was touched when I read the sincere lines he had written asking for forgiveness.. The little paper fell into the jar and the child began to smile again.

A Hungarian family wrote:

During the early years we placed many important petitions in the jar. Time passed rapidly and we had almost forgotten about it, when once we decided to reread everything that we has asked of the Blessed Mother. We emptied the contents of the jar on the table and we reread each paper. We were surprised to see that the Blessed Mother had already answered all of our petitions. Then we expressed our gratitude. It is good to review the contents of the jar to promote gratitude and trust, because it could happen that we forget everything.

What is written at the end of the brochure?

"Do you have a boss that has made you explode?"
"Do you have a friend who is presently burdened with a great worry?"
"Do you have a dream that has persisted for a long time?"

Fill the jars. She will work.

The text of this article is partially taken from the new brochure: With Strength in the Midst of Life. Fill the Jar, She will Work!

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA/amj

 


 

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