During the Covenant Celebration of the October Meeting in Schoenstatt, the Chilean Schoenstatters connected us with the life in and around the Shrine of the Holy Spirit in Bellavista. The dynamism of the Holy Spirit was palpable. We experienced it concretely when, during the celebration on May 31st, a strong wind rained leaves on the participants and opened a window of the Shrine.

This October meeting coincided with the World Synod in Rome, whose soul is to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as the protagonist of the synodal Church. The similarities, the deep lines of connection, are palpable: the same Spirit, here and there.

Parallel December 8, 1965

A historical parallel comes to mind: Father Kentenich deliberately intervened at the closing ceremony on December 8th during the great Synod called the Council. He promised Pope Paul VI that Schoenstatt would contribute to the realization of the Church’s post-conciliar mission, among other things—and this is now being discovered—for a Church deeply led by the Holy Spirit.

Could we not bring this event into the present by associating ourselves with the Synod today? Synodality is precisely the “post-conciliar” program of the Church. It is much more than this or that reform. It is nothing less than a cultural change. Father Felix Geyer, the new director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Germany, developed a “Schoenstatt-specific synodality” in his homily on October 20, 2024, during his first Eucharistic celebration as director of the Movement. He asked that our hearts be moved and enlarged for this specific Schoenstatt synodality. From our own movements of the heart, to find ways to live together in today’s world, in the Church, and society.

This needs to be learned. The Synod learned the “conversation in the spirit” and asked for the inclusion of other spiritual traditions. The “Pastoral of the Pulse” (pastoral developed in the Schoenstatt Movement in Germany) is currently developing its own “conversation in the Spirit” that listens to the voices of time, soul, and being in a 360-degree panorama, so to speak, and thus hears all voices. When there is harmony, the voice of the Holy Spirit is reliable.

October 27, 1912: an event in the synodal spirit

The conclusion of the World Synod will take place on October 27.

The date suggests a historical connection: on October 27, 1912, Father Kentenich invited the Schoenstatt House of Studies students to walk together with Mary. They wanted to learn to become firm, free, and priestly persons. This path continues to this day. It has become a worldwide current.

Joseph Kentenich did not want to walk this path alone. In the talk, that today is considered the pre-founding document of Schoenstatt, he emphasized: “We want to learn. Not only you but also I. We want to learn from each other. We, not me. Because I will not do anything in this regard without your full consent”.

The synodal word “we” is a precise synodal program. The development and growth of Schoenstatt is, therefore, a path that we have traveled together and want to continue to travel together.

Dialogue in the mind

Given the practical life that will begin after the Synod, we invite everyone to lead a synodal lifestyle and place the Holy Spirit at the center of our considerations and decisions.

At the Synod, we have learned to listen more attentively to our brothers and sisters, even to those with whom we disagree. We have learned to be silent and to pray before we speak. We have learned that we are brothers and sisters and that we all have the right to express our opinions.

May these suggestions help us enrich our life in the Covenant of Love with Mary and bear new fruits. We want to be pioneers of integral Christianity, which means to live, love, and think organically, united with one another, together in the heart of God.

Translation: Sr. M. Lourdes Macías