108 years since the first Covenant of Love with Mary!

On October 18th will be the 108th anniversary of the first Covenant of Love with Mary in the Schoenstatt Shrine. Eight years have already passed since the celebrations for the 100th Anniversary of Schoenstatt, when 12,000 pilgrims were present in Schoenstatt; and then in Rome with Pope Francis.

Each Covenant Day is a very special occasion to renew our love and commitment to the Blessed Mother, in union with our Father and Founder. Jesus and Mary call us to live a Covenant culture in our hearts, and to share it with the world.

International Celebrations and Festivities

On Tuesday, October 18, special celebrations and festivities will take place in all the Schoenstatt centers. The good news is that in Schoenstatt, Vallendar, around the Original Shrine, several activities will take place, and that from all over the world we will be able to participate in the most important activities. This will be an excellent opportunity to integrate the local experiences, wherever we are, with those to which the entire Schoenstatt Family in the world has access through the virtual world.

Listening to God together – This is the best opportunity

Under the motto “Listening to God together – This is the best opportunity“, a novena will be developed in preparation for the celebrations of October 18th; and the actual celebrations of the day of the Covenant of Love. Listening to God together implies living radically our surrender, achieving inner silence, being attentive to the voice of God in our hearts and in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, in order to be a synodal and prophetic movement, in accordance with the pastoral work of Pope Francis, who, like Father Kentenich, never ceases to motivate us to be missionaries of a new world in Christ and Mary.

Crisis, war, economic problems, anguish, crosses … and a motto

We are in the midst of many difficulties: war, violence in our countries, hunger and poverty, crosses, anguish… At the beginning of the First World War, Father Kentenich said to his boys this unusual phrase, which he placed in Mary’s lips: “Prove first of all by deeds that you really love me and that you take your purpose seriously. Now you have the best opportunity to do so. And we ask ourselves, is war really the best opportunity for anything? The facts, the history of Schoenstatt proves that yes, Schoenstatt was never exempt from great trials, nor from immense blessings.

And so, we can say today with Father Kentenich:

This is the best opportunity to grow in holiness. 

This is the best opportunity to live the Covenant of Love. 

This is the best opportunity to be a committed Church. 

This is the best opportunity to be inspired by the Congress of Pentecost. 

This is the best opportunity to be a united Family, to renew ourselves in the Holy Spirit and to fulfill our mission

Preparatory Novena – Living the Covenant of Love

A team has worked on a novena in preparation for the 18th, which will run from Sunday, October 9 to Monday, October 17. It will be prayed every day from the Original Shrine at 7:50pm (Evening Blessing), German time, and will be transmitted by Schoenstatt-TV. It can be accessed through the link: www.bit.ly/envivosantuario.

This novena has the characteristic of being very brief and profound at the same time. Each day will lead us to relive the Founding Document with a motivational phrase. Then, also on a daily basis, it will open us to the mystery of the dedication of a concrete Schoenstatter. These are the nine chosen to guide us into the world of a lived Covenant of Love: Father Joseph Kentenich, Joseph Engling, Gertraud von Bullion, Sister M. Emilie, Max Brunner, John Pozzobon, Karl Leisner, Mario Hiriart and Father Franz Reinisch.

At the end of each day of the novena, some questions are posed to help the participants grow in the spirit of openness and surrender to which the Covenant of Love calls us.

Download the novena in PDF format (click on the image)

Program for Tuesday, October 18

Like the above-mentioned novena, the October 18th program will be broadcast on Schoenstatt-TV, through the link  www.bit.ly/envivosantuario. Times are posted in German time.

• 10:30 am: Festive Mass – At 10:30 am a festive Mass will be celebrated in the Pilgrims’ Church in German and English. The celebrant will be the Auxiliary Bishop of Luxembourg, Leo Wagener.
• 12:00 noon – Optional lunch in the Pilgrims’ House.
• 1:30 -2:30 pm: Alternative program – Between 1:30 and 2:30 pm an alternative program will be offered, which includes meditation in the Original Shrine, information and exchange about the spirit of the Covenant of Love, personal blessing in the area of the Original Shrine, community rosary, possibility to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation in the Pilgrims’ Church, coffee in the Pilgrims’ House and the Schoenstatt Meile, which offers various projects that are well worth getting to know. This last activity will take place behind the Pilgrims’ House.
• 2:45 pm: Covenant Hour – At 2:45 pm the Covenant Hour will take place in the Pilgrims’ Church, with prayers, songs, and meditation. From there we will have a pilgrimage to the Original Shrine.
• 3:45 p.m.: International Covenant of Love Renewal.
• 5:00 pm: Mass – At the beginning of the Mass, the Covenant of Love will be renewed on an international level (Historic Hour when the Original covenant was made). The Mass will follow in Spanish and Portuguese, in the Original Shrine, which will close the Covenant of Love Day program, after having united the International Schoenstatt Family for 10 days in a very special way.

Links and contacts

Founding Document: http://www.bit.ly/thefirstfoundingdocument

General information for pilgrims in English http://schoenstatt-info.com/wallfahrt-schoenstatt/englisch/default.htm

Information in English: eng@choenstatt-info.org