On April 12, nearly 2,000 people gathered in Bellavista to celebrate joyfully and filled with emotion the completion of the first stage of Bellavista’s renovation after the damage caused by the storm in August 2024.
However, the same events that led to the closing of the Shrine and the pain felt by so many pilgrims and members of the Family also became a time of grace, encounter, and renewal.
What seemed like a great challenge became an opportunity to strengthen the bonds between people, communities, and families throughout Chile and the world with the Cenacle, thus becoming a moment of profound significance for the entire Schoenstatt Family and for many pilgrims.
The Family United
The reopening of the Bellavista Shrine was celebrated with great joy and devotion.
Pilgrims and families from different shrines, communities, and cities throughout the country came to the community of La Florida, where the Cenacle is located, to be reunited with the Blessed Mother, her mission, and this holy and historic place for Schoenstatt.
Vicente Riquelme, a member of the Bellavista Youth and Pastoral, remembers this moment as a “great embrace from the Blessed Mother and a great joy seeing her again in her home.”
Yasna Aguirre and Sergio Brito traveled from Curicó with their family and a group of more than 10 people to be present at this important milestone. “We feel closely connected to Bellavista because it is the first Shrine in Chile. What moved me the most was imagining myself in 1949 and feeling like a founder, then seeing how new generations place themselves at the service of God and the Blessed Mother for this new era,” said Sergio.
“For me, Bellavista is our home, from where the Blessed Mother radiates her graces to all the other shrines, and we feel like family. It was a day of great joy, like reliving May 31st! Our covenant was renewed and filled us with faith and hope,” said Yasna.
A delegation of families from the Las Rosas de María Shrine in San Fernando also arrived, traveling in different cars to Santiago. “For us, Bellavista is the closest place to Father Kentenich. It was shocking to see the place without its trees; it is different, but it is our shrine. It was all very exciting. The moment when the Blessed Mother arrived, seeing the number of people. The preparations were wonderful,” said Patricia Rivera, Family Coordinator.
The second stage: a landscape with meaning and transformation
From now on, Bellavista is preparing to take a new step in its renewal process. The Shrine is not only a place of retreat, but also a lively meeting point for families, workers, seniors, young people, and children, who find here a connection with God, with the Blessed Mother, with their own spirituality, and also with nature and creation.
The central task of this second phase is the implementation of the landscaping project, designed with the intention of symbolically expressing the three graces of the Shrine: Home, Transformation, and Apostolic Fruitfulness, which is achieved through its layout and the careful selection of the species that comprise it.
According to Héctor Reyes, the landscape project manager, rows of Tuscani rosemary will be planted on each side of the Shrine, symbolically embracing the pilgrim and creating a welcoming gesture with their persistent green lines and cobalt blue flowers at the end of winter. The transformation will be expressed through the slow growth of trees and shrubs that, over the years, will undergo changes, reflecting a landscape that, like spiritual life, is never static.
Translation: Maribel Acaron
