Make people thirsty for God

England Family Week July 28^th- 3^rd August 2008 in Schoenstatt

P.Duncan McVicar Fr. Duncan McVicar P. Duncan McVicar
Concelebrantes de Inglaterra, India y Estados Unidos Concelebrants from England, India and USA Die Konzelebranten kamen aus England, Indien und den USA
Bendición personal Personal blessing Einzelsegen
Nigeria les hacen tocar palmas... Nigeria makes them clan hands... Nigeria bringt sie zum Klatschen…
Al final todos bailaron… At end all were dancing Und am Schluss tanzten alle… Fotos: POS Fischer © 2008

SCHOENSTATT, Patty Ganley/mkf. It had been another wonderful Family Concert to round off the social part of Family Week in Schoenstatt. So much talent, so many laughs, thrills and spills, music and a few emotional moments too. And then the closing Mass of the annual Family Week that the Schoenstatt Movement of England celebrates each year in Schoenstatt, with a summary of all the gifts and graces, turning into song and dance at the end along with the Nigerian seminarians of the Schoenstatt Fathers who in their contagious excitement couldn’t resist just joining in …

Ellen and Mike Pastore prepared this very special Mass with the presence of some Indian deacons, and the course of Nigerian students who are preparing for their ordination as deacons on August 31^st. At the beginning, Mike Pastore had the families with teens and younger children, and the individual participants recall their highlights from each day of the Family Week. Laughter, smiles, sighs of joy accompanied his words.

Not the best start, but…

The comment concerning Monday, arrival day, was with a profound sigh.

Patty Ganley recalls:

"The pilgrimage didn’t have the best start, to be honest! We all arrived at Terminal One, Manchester Airport at some ungodly hour- too early for us to have had breakfast before we left! The queue for the TUIFLY flight to Cologne was enormous and at a standstill, with no sign of the check- in desk being about to open. We waited for ages as the clock ticked off the minutes we might have had spare to grab a much needed coffee and croissant! When we did manage to check in, most people seemed to have at least one item of luggage, that was too small, large, soft, or strangely shaped to go through without having to join another long queue at a second ‘Baggage Inspection’ Desk. It was a really stressful start to the week! When we got to Cologne after drinking the worse coffee on the planet and some people, consuming a very unpleasant salami baguette, things got even worse. The Lauterberg coach was ready for us, but Judy Netto had lost Mary, hours before at the terminal after going to the Ladies’ room. Margaret Tite was doing her best to help find her. John Higgins lost his mobile phone, and Damian left his rucksack in Baggage Reclaim. It was about an hour before the decision was made to set off without Judy, Mary, Margaret, and John, so that the rest of us could get to Schoenstatt in time for the planned lunch. Mary was soon after found, and Konrad sped off from Marienau to pick the party up, as we were on our way. Having had all our bad luck, the week took a distinct turn for the better from then on. Marienau looked wonderful as we arrived. The lunch tasted like nectar of the gods, as all of us were really hungry by then!"

Boat trips, ice cream, talks…

We are one in the Lord when we grow and give thanks is written on the altar cloth at this final Mass in the house chapel of Marienau. The summary of the days given by Mike Pastore reveals a lot of gratitude: "There was plenty of interesting outings, inspiring workshops, very emotionally moving liturgies, delicious food, entertaining socializing, and lots of drinking coffee (and sometimes something stronger!!!), we still had space to tick down and really relax. Each day we had a ‘Gathering Time’, modeled on the ‘huddles’ that Paul Barlow, I think, instituted at a former family week in Scotland a few years ago. These often involved prayers, action songs, games, icebreakers, and sometimes a history lesson, and seated aerobics (courtesy of Margaret McAuley). The evenings were wonderful opportunities to talk, share stories, to get to know each other, and discover connections sometimes. There were some great-organized social activities, such as the quiz, organized by Marie Fenton and John Higgins and the wine tasting. We had super days out to Bad Ems, (where a lot of ice cream was consumed), Koblenz, a glorious day culminating in a meal by the side of the Rhine after a boat trip, and to a new place we had never been to before, Ahrweiler, a quaint walled town a short coach trip away."

Living the Covenant

The workshops and the Liturgies were the highlights of the week. Fr. Duncan McVicar focused on the aspects of our everyday lives that present a challenge to us in terms of following our Covenant: "Our working lives often cause us to lose courage and trust. Some pilgrims confessed to giving in to road rage! Jim Kelly said he had become so discouraged by the messages in the media that he had cancelled all his newspapers! At the conclusion of the workshop, Fr. Duncan gave us some practical ideas for overcoming these obstacles. He urged us to focus not on trying to be more loving, but on training to be so." It also brought relief to many to see that there are different styles of being in touch with God throughout the day: "While Fr. Duncan warned us of possible pit falls in the balance between our personal pathways, he took the feelings of guilt away, and reassured us in our own connectivity! Interestingly, on the last day before we caught the coach, I went into the Original Shrine for a last prayer, expecting to be in and out in a few minutes. As luck would have it, Exposition was in progress, and I found myself really enjoying the quietness, and was able to offer up my prayers with a deep and real sense of contemplation for the first time in a long time. I felt a great sense of peace when I rejoined my mother, who had nearly given up hope of me ever coming out!"

On Saturday, they renewed or sealed the Covenant of Love, in a very meaningful and deep way.

Salt of the earth, light of the world

"What do we take home?" asked Fr. Duncan in the final Mass on Sunday. Starting from the gospel of the day, he encouraged all to become "salt of earth and light of the world."

Salt, he said, makes thirsty, spices up, and stops decay. Thus, we are called to make people thirsty for God, spice religious life up with creativity, and stop the decay that often seems to overwhelm us by making our lives Christ-centered.

Light makes things visible; we should make "visible" what God has done with us, and therefore try hard to share clearly what touched us. We should not talk just about ideas or feelings, but share and pass on our experience.

The students from Nigeria in the end made all sing, clap hands, and dance with joy. As Patty sums it up: "We all agreed, as we sadly boarded the coach for the airport, that it had been a fantastic week. New friendships had been forged, some strengthened and deepened. Many pilgrims had found answers to problems had been provided, through the intercession of the MTA and the work we had done together. We had such fun, but also an uplifting spiritual experience too."