At the event, each community will bring a written reflection of the past time, which can be viewed through a wall newspaper. Everyone participates in a prayer program. There is opportunity to attend to a Holy Mass in the Shrine of Bethlehem and in the Shrine at the Source, where it all began in 1939, and in the chapel of the Sisters’ House.

Thursday evening begins with the presentation of the spiritual fruits of the past year. On Friday the event will continue in a closed circle of delegates. Saturday morning, on the other hand, is again open to all and takes place in the conference hall of the Sisters’ House. In the afternoon the participants continue to search for a central idea for the next period. On Sunday morning, during Holy Mass, the year’s line is proclaimed to the public. In the Bethlehem Shrine the new leaders receive the assignments for their area of responsibility. We raffle off who will pray for which of our branches next year and we receive small gifts that the provincial superior will make overnight for the motto of the year.

Lastyear westarted with a review of the anniversary. At that time, with thehelp of Father Walter, the leaders took the first two parts of his speech “The mission for the new century of Schoenstatt”: choosing the path of holiness -living firm authentic attachments. Throughout the year they worked with the motto: “You are the gift and the way of holiness for me”. This year the decision was made to focus on the third part of the mission: To this end, Father Elmar Busse was invited as the main speaker. So the theme of the meeting was “Schoenstatt, the school of the Apostles”. The participants dealt with the theme “Instrumentpiety as the fruitfulness of the striving for holiness”.

The new motto is: “Send me where you have already sown”.God is the sower and he needs workers for his harvest.

For the motto of the year we will preparea worksheet on which, in addition to the motto, a picture is printed that characterizes the motto of the year. The same picture will be printed next year on the cover of the magazine “Spoj nás” (Connect us). On the worksheet there are suggestionsabouthow to work with the motto practicallyand there is also a list of recommended literature. So, let’s getto work!

Kateřina Stejskal, Czech Republic