The Matrimonial Route: Our way to the Shrine

A road full of special experiences that lead to the Shrine, the route contains themes for couples that invite the marriages to deepen the dialogue and to strengthen the bonds of love.

The Matrimonial Route is a 1.5 km lane through the forest whose point of departure and arrival is the Shrine. Along the way there are fifteen stations which represent the different tasks, concerns and periods through which each couple must pass during their married life. The tasks and texts which are found on the stations motivate the couples to reflect on their lives and to dialogue. The benches they find along the way also invite the couples to remain seated for a while.

The Matrimonial Route is born from a suggestion from Father Tilmann Beller. Many artists and professionals worked on its construction, as well as many families of the Family Federation in Hungary. Along with the wooden stations designed with ceramic plaques, a guidebook with reflections and songs was created.

The Matrimonial Route wants to help the persons reflect on their relationships so that the couples can meet themselves anew, discover their common vocation, educate their children well, and that they may enjoy a full and happy family life.

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The Stations

The 15 stations of the Matrimonial Route are:

1. We have met each other forever

2. Our home is our kingdom

3. We give life – we receive life

4. Love also hurts

5. Difficulties help us grow

6. Educating strong children

7. At the midway of our life

8. Together we are strong

9. We are sent

10. We remain faithful

11. We allow our children to find their way

12. Along with our previous generation

13. We age and we reap

14. Everything has meaning

15. We give thanks

To renew the families

The Matrimonial Route was blessed by the family Bishop Laszlo Biro on July 3, 2007. In his discourse, he said: “the Matrimonial Route takes us from the Shrine toward the Shrine, as our life and our marriage go through many stations which spring from God in order to return to God. The Matrimonial Route also reminds us of the Stations of the Cross where from the beginning, Jesus embraces the Cross. Marriage also begins with a loving embrace and is also made up of encounters with children, with people who cry, with persons who nourish us as Simon of Cyrene, with falls and getting ups and in the end, the radiance of the gift of life in the light of the Resurrection. The stations of the Route want to guide us toward that prayer which is the source of all action.”

With the Matrimonial Route, the Family Federation in Hungary has made a project to renew the families and the entire country a reality. Participants of the family workshops in Obudavar happily turn to the Matrimonial Route. This Route also attracts families from other movements, couples by themselves and also family groups. Families from parish communities come on busses to Obudavar to nourish and renew their lives on the Matrimonial Route.

Future vision

The Matrimonial Route is supported in prayer and sacrifice by the Schoenstatt families. During its inauguaration, Father Tilmann Beller said:

I hope that the time will come when alongside each parish there is a Matrimonial Route. And that is how in the parish of Horvatnadalija,Hungary, a Matrimonial Route like the one in Obudavar has been built. In many other places there are also preparations for the construction of Matrimonial Routes. Schoenstatt Centers in other countries have also shown interest.

Information and Contact

Where to find it:

Fo u.11.
8272 Obudavar

Web: http://csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/hazasparok-utja

Contact: korso@schoenstatt.hu

“The elderly are your grandparents” – A campaign of virtual hugs and love.

A wonderful campaign of love, strengthening bonds, giving our heart to those who need our affection.

Father Alexandre Awi de Mello, secretary of the dicastery of the Laity, Family and Life and a Schoenstatt Father, invites us to participate in this project which grew out of a desire of Pope Francis: to express our love online to our own grandparents, from the neighborhood or from the parish, who are alone: let us be creative in love: a phone call, a video call, or whatever your creativity inspires you to do.

Below is the invitation. Let's participate using the hashtag #sendyourhug. The most significant hugs will be published in the social media of the mentioned dicastery: @laityfamilylife. Use the inventiveness of love: make phone or video calls, listen to them!
#sendyourhug

Dear friends,

It is possible to reduce the isolation felt by elderly people while also strictly observing health guidelines for Covid-19. The pandemic has hit the elderly particularly hard and it has disconnected the already weak links between generations. However, respecting social distancing rules does not mean accepting a destiny of loneliness and abandonment.

That is why the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life has decided to heed the words spoken by Pope Francis after the Angelus and to launch a campaign called “The elderly are your grandparents”. It invites young people from all over the world to do something that shows kindness and affection for older people who may feel lonely.

In recent months many Episcopal Conferences, associations and individuals have been using “the inventiveness of love” to find ways to bring the ecclesial community closer to the elderly who are lonely. We have received news of contacts being made via telephone, internet and social networks, and even of serenades to the residents of retirement homes.

Young people have been doing this to help alleviate the loneliness being felt by many people who are obliged by the pandemic to stay at home or remain confined in residential care facilities.

In this phase of the campaign, in order to respect the health regulations in force in different countries, our invitation to young people is to reach out to the loneliest elderly people in their neighbourhood or parish and send them a hug, according to the request of the Pope, by means of a phone call, a video call or by sending an image. Wherever possible − or whenever the health emergency will allow it − we invite young people to make the embrace even more concrete by visiting elderly in person.

The campaign is associated with the hashtag #sendyourhug in order to disseminate the initiative. We ask you, if possible, to post the “hugs” on the socials with the hashtag #sendyourhug. The most significant posts will be circulated on the social media of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life @laityfamilylife. For information and to send material please refer to Dr. Vittorio Scelzo (v.scelzo@laityfamilylife.va +39 328 5938388).

On the memorial of the Saints Joachim and Anne, Jesus “grandparents”, I would like to invite the young to perform a gesture of tenderness towards the elderly, especially the loneliest, in their homes and residences, those who have not seen their loved ones for many months.

Dear young people, each one of these elderly people is your grandparent! Do not leave them by themselves. Use the inventiveness of love, make telephone calls, video calls, send messages, listen to them and, where possible, in compliance with the healthcare rules, go to visit them too. Send them a hug.

They are your roots. An uprooted tree cannot grow, it does not blossom or bear fruit. This is why the bond and connection with your roots is important. “The blossom of a tree comes from what it has underground”, says a poet from my homeland. Therefore I invite you to give a big round of applause for our grandparents, everyone!

P. Alexandre Awi Mello, I.Sch.

Secretary

27 July 2020