Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement

Youth

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Doing missionary work in times of pandemic: the MTA is still present

Doing missionary work in times of pandemic: the MTA is still present

Testimonials from university students in Mendoza, Argentina with their mission VIA
IESUM.

Pablo Bestani
April 25 2021

Many pastoral activities have suffered great changes due to the pandemic, but the MTA continues visiting her children doing so with the same intensity as always.

VIA IESUM is a Schoenstatt mission in universities that takes place during the Holy Week in Mendoza, Argentina. It has been going on for ten uninterrupted years and during normal times it used to have around 160 missionaries from the region.
Its name, which means “The Way to Jesus”, is a reference to Jesus’ path during the Holy Week, the one he chose to travel so that we could all be saved. It is also the way we should travel if we want to reach Him.

During 2020, the pandemic also stirred these waters and we had to do some reinventing to keep the mission firm. Our mission had to become virtual with reflections for the missionaries and video calls to visit the places where the missions were going to be held.

The missions to be held in person again in 2021
We wanted to return to our mission in person for 2021. Due to precautions that had to be taken and protocols to be followed, we decided to have a mission with fewer people.
We had missionary cells that could work independently with a maximum capacity of 23 people each. Our goal was to reach a total of 80 missionaries, in four different facilities where we could carry on the missions.
Nevertheless, the new surge of the virus infections reached us just before the mission began and we had to change our plans. We transformed the mission into a spiritual retreat so that we could diminish contact and the possibility of any spread, we reduced the total amount of participants to 47, isolating the missionaries who may get infected as well as their close contacts.

We also redirected the spirituality of the mission to satisfy the new needs. We recognized our Blessed Mother’s clear voice in this; even though we had no idea how she wanted this VIA IESUM to be, we all concluded that it would be a learning experience.
The spiritual retreat was successful from the very beginning. The atmosphere felt wasw hat you feel when you finally reach a new place after going through great sacrifices to get there. We were aware that there were many who could not be present and that being there was a luxury and a gift. This made for a truly holy atmosphere where following Christ on his Way of the Cross became something natural, from the painful
prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane to the creative joy of the Resurrection.

Suddenly, they carried on with their mission in the streets

As the days went by, our MTA did not cease to surprise us. On the third day of the retreat, suddenly, there was the possibility of taking the mission to the streets. Through his mediation, Christ took the missionaries once more to the streets to bear witness of Him. This filled us with great joy, and we were finally able to see the people of that region again, talk to each one of them and bring the Mother’s presence to them. Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday became days filled with immense joy as we could experience God’s hand very closely.
After those intense days, having returned to our homes, we found that none of us had been infected during the mission, and that God had really summoned us and sustained
us during his Holy Week.
Now, more than ever, this phrase becomes true: “She is the Great Missionary. She will work Miracles.”

 

Translation by Maribel Acarón
Pictures: Universitary youth Mendoza, Argentina

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Jesus and Mary visit the youth in Uruguay using technology and creativity

Jesus and Mary visit the youth in Uruguay using technology and creativity

During the worst moments of the pandemic, the Schoenstatt youth in Uruguay figures out how to continue their mission using “Tabor Box”.

Schoenstatt Youth Uruguay
April 5th. 2021

Every year the Schoenstatt youth in Uruguay carry out a mission with college students in Montevideo called ‘’The Blessed Mother’s Tabor” where dozens of young people offer their service to the Church by taking their parishes to smaller neighborhoods, accompanying Jesus and Mary during the Holy Week and choosing to live a different kind of experience.  This mission, full of symbols and gestures, has slowly conquered Montevideo for the MTA and offers the youth a great opportunity to unite with the hearts of Christ and his Mother.

The pandemic reached Uruguay in 2020 just as we were working on our mission plans and it forced us to reinvent ourselves and come up with virtual activities that would allow us to take that spiritual leap together, joined in prayer and using technology. The outlook for 2021 was more promising, having started the vaccination process and having a relatively controlled number of confirmed cases, which gave us reason to hope that we could carry out our mission in person and that the Schoenstatt family could experience this Holy Week together.  This is how the mission began to be organized, choosing a location, and appointing those responsible for the different activities, all united in the idea that it could be done even if the panorama became more adverse. Within the framework of previous activities, the Schoenstatt Family in Uruguay, together with the Rosary Campaign and the youth branches, took our Blessed Mother’s altarpiece to the Schoenstatt headquarters in Montevideo, where the Holy Week mission would take place.

Due to an increase in positive Covid cases, the people in Uruguay were urged to reduce their mobility, appealing to each person’s freedom of choice, in order to reduce transmission of the virus. Therefore, it became clear that carrying the mission in person with dozens of young people involved would not be viable, which forced us to look for other means of evangelization during this crisis.

The idea was to be able to take the Blessed Mother’s Tabor to every youth, to every home and to every family. This became the TABOR BOX, which appealed to the great dedication of all of those in the organization, writing prayers that could be used by the youth in their homes and would help them connect to Christ and his Mother. The BOX included a booklet with relevant prayers, a personal capital of grace notebook, and various elements that could be used to create a proper atmosphere in the home for the Holy Week: candles, cards, stickers, and Father Kentenich’s phone.  All this was done so each youth could set up their Home Shrine with their family.

So it was that, despite adversity, through virtual encounters, social media and the BOX TABOR, many young people were able to accompany Christ and the Blessed Mother during this Holy Week.

With hope and joy, confident in the victory, with Mary, into the new era!

Pictures: Schoenstatt Uruguay