MTA

July 18, 2021 By Sr. M. Cacilda Becker

Capital of Grace and serious aspiration for holiness

How much is your contribution
to the Capital of Grace worth?

The value of each sacrifice we offer to the Blessed Mother so that her graces may bear fruit from the Shrine

By Sister M. Nilza Silva
July 18, 2021

Our place of grace -the Shrine- supposes a collaboration between God and us, between the Virgin and us. That is why, those of us in the Movement who want to further our participation in it, must never desist. This is the permanent imperative: Cooperation!

Have you ever wondered how much a small offering to the Capital of Grace is worth? How about two offerings? How about three? Little by little we can fill a basket and help the MTA in her mission from the Shrine. What follows is Father Kentenich’s reflections on this topic.

Nothing without me

Father Kentenich’s reflection:

Nothing happens in Schoenstatt without me; in other words, the current of grace cannot grow and flow without me. When we talk about the contributions to the Capital of Grace this is exactly what we are talking about. All of us have this task.

The more religious we are, the clearer it becomes that things depend on God; and regarding my offerings, not on the actions I take, but on the degree of love I put into them. If I am sick and I have a great love for God, how much will I be able to offer to the Capital of Grace and how much will I get in return? In this way, the individual activity is oriented towards the heavens.

This is mentioned in the Founding Document: Schoenstatt ceases to be a place of pilgrimage, and ceases to carry its mission in this world, when there are no new contributions to the Capital of Grace, when the contributions made are spent and there are no new contributions being offered.

I still remember well when we said: We don’t want the Blessed Mother to act without us, we want to attract her, make her descend in virtue of intense apostolic activity. We believe that our Founding Document was signed in heaven.

When we get to Eternity, we will know who has served the Movement the most, and perhaps we will have a very different picture of reality from what we currently see. This world appreciates more those who are in the forefront. There are always leaders, some who talk constantly but they are not always the most needed. I am convinced that deep down, there is a multitude of simple individuals without whom Schoenstatt could not exist. The most needed and most important are those who constantly and in the greatest measure give offerings to the Capital of Grace, who unite the current of their heart and blood with the current of heart and blood of the Capital of Grace.

Capital of grace — Foto: Pedro Dillinger

God expects personal saintliness from us. The Blessed Mother asks of us personally, not in general, a high degree of holiness, a strong aspiration to holiness. In virtue of this aspiration of ours, we will make her descend. A precious stone is worth more than a whole mountain of ordinary stones. If the Family does not generate such persons, what do we expect from Schoenstatt? Schoenstatt depends for its existence on a serious aspiration for holiness. Other places of pilgrimage can do without it. Schoenstatt, on the other hand, depends on people who truly aspire to holiness and connect that aspiration to our Shrine.

This is how the mystery of Schoenstatt is presented to us: the Blessed Mother’s universal fruitfulness stems from the forces of divine grace, which act freely. We admire the generosity of divine grace.

Do you think that I attribute everything that was done here to personal endeavors? No! I will explain it with an example: a child wants to help his mother carry the laundry basket. The child wants to help her and puts his little hands and his whole body in the basket. He wants to have the honor of helping his mother. And the poor mother must carry not only the basket, but also the child.

A powerful current of graces flows from this place, we can collaborate with it, but without thinking that everything has been achieved by virtue of our actions alone.

Father Joseph Kentenich, Christmas Day Conference, Schoenstatt December 28, 1933

Book: His mission, our mission, Peter Wolf editor

Source: www.schoenstatt.org.br

July 13, 2021 By Sr. M. Cacilda Becker

Croatia – becoming a heart in the Father

Fr. Christoph Horn from Switzerland, Rector of the two Shrines in Croatia, spent 10 weeks last March, May and June with the Croatian Schoenstatt Movement. He re-established contacts that had been lost due to the pandemic. Together they prepared spiritually for the installation of the Father Symbol in the Ivanovici Shrine in September of this year.

Claudia Brehm
July 13, 2021

During his pastoral visits in Croatia, Father Horn always makes it a point to listen to the local people, to make joint decisions in meetings, to celebrate Mass with those responsible for the Movement, and to give them spiritual impulses. This also includes visiting the families of his co-workers.

When the earth shook

In Zagreb, where earthquakes killed people and destroyed many buildings in March and December 2020, the significant damage can still be seen. Churches, like the Zagreb Cathedral, cannot be used as places of worship for years to come, and some have been replaced by assembly churches. It is a good thing that the Schoenstatt Family in Zagreb is characterized by great cohesion. Through donations collected together, it was possible to help a family to rebuild their destroyed house. It is also helpful for this region that interested diocesan priests were found there who gladly support the Schoenstatt communities.

In Croatia – Landscaping at the shrine in Ivanovici

At the shrine in Ivanovici, which was inaugurated in 2018, it was possible to build connecting paths to the shrine last month. At the intersection of these paths, the architect depicted the well-known Schoenstatt symbol in a circle (see photo). The symbols of the Eucharist, chalice and host will also be added in the wider area.

A scepter for Mary

Pilgrimages of women and mothers to both Shrines took place in May with very good numbers of participants for pandemic conditions, 70 and 50 mothers respectively. They presented the Blessed Mother with a scepter (see photo) that Mary, with her maternal help, will take over the scepter in the manifold needs of this time, world and Church, will prove effective. Some mothers expressed their great confidence in her by sealing the Covenant of Love.

Preparation for the installation of the Father Symbol

On September 18th of this year, the Father Symbol will be placed in Ivanovici, an artistically designed eye that wants to point to God’s unconditional love, faithfulness and vigilant concern for all people and His earth. One year later, in August 2022, the Father Symbol will be placed in the Shrine of Mala Subotica.

Many local communities have gladly embraced and spread the “A Heart in the Father” retreat as a guide to life. Father Horn wrote seven reflections on the Father Symbol for the retreat theme, which were sent to a large number of members of the Croatian Schoenstatt Family on seven consecutive Saturdays. The addressees, in turn, copied the reflections for others or forwarded them electronically. In this way, these annual retreats had an amazingly wide distribution. Everyone received a photograph of the Father Symbol and the common preparatory prayer along with the contemplation texts.

Now new suggestions for personal conversation with God were added. Especially the group of women and mothers became involved in this preparation and now tries to find the traces of divine providence and guidance in the daily evening prayer and to become grateful for the daily gifts of Father.

Cooperation with the national pilgrimage place Marija Bistrica in Croatia

The 15th century black miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary in this shrine, which was declared a national shrine in 1971, attracts many thousands of people every year, some of whom come on pilgrimage on foot from far away.

In the forecourt there is a large field altar where masses are celebrated outdoors and confessions are heard. In the midst of this, a devotional space has now been created where adoration takes place on weekends during confession times. On a nearby hill, a large Stations of the Cross have been built with life-size sculptures. There Father Horn was invited to serve for two weeks hearing confessions and celebrating Mass. He writes: “It was an enriching experience for me, especially because in Marija Bistrica the ‘Croatian heart’ really beats and I could absorb many things. There were many contacts also with priests. I was very well received by the five who are constantly serving at the shrine.”

Wikipedia

June 5, 2021 By Sr. M. Cacilda Becker

She is the great missionary. She will work miracles

The Pilgrim Mother in Germany visits families held by the hands of thousands of missionaries

Under the motto "She is the great missionary, she will work miracles", the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate expands in Germany, reaching people from various cultures. Its web page is being published in two additional languages.

Hna. Marié
June 5, 2021

Why is a German website being translated into English and Polish?

Since the month of April, the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate’s webpage in Germany is available in two other languages besides German: Polish and English. There are about 5,650 Pilgrim Mother groups in Germany. About 700 of these include people who speak other languages like English, Croatian, Tagalog, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish, Czech, Vietnamese and others. The largest group comes from the parishes in the Polish Catholic Missions in Germany, where more than 500 Pilgrim Mother images travel through homes and institutions. Most of the people from the other countries who receive her speak English.

Everyone provides liveliness and fruitfulness

These two languages were initially added to enable as many people as possible to participate in the life around the Pilgrim Mother in Germany. The fact that they have been added to the German webpage holds a symbolic meaning: here in Germany, everyone belongs to the same and only Pilgrim Mother Apostolate and each person contributes to the liveliness and fruitfulness of this missionary initiative which transmits our faith.

Bonds, friendship and mission

The Blessed Mother is weaving a web of love and connections in every nation. There are approximately 180,000 pilgrim images travelling around the world in every continent. This worldwide initiative was the brainchild of Brazilian family man and deacon, João Luiz Pozzobon, in Santa Maria, Brazil.

In Germany as well, the Blessed Mother, through her visits as Pilgrim Mother, brings together people who live here but have different languages, cultures and frames of mind.

All of them, regardless of the language they speak or the country they are from, are her children. All of them have a place in her heart. She is close to all of them. She knows their worries and needs and helps to overcome them. She, our Mother, gathers her children to form part of God’s single grand family. She also wants to conquer everyone to bear witness as co-workers of Christ and of the gift of his salvation.

The pilgrim images that are sent in Germany are blessed on the 18th of every month in Schoenstatt’s Original Shrine in Vallendar. They are then sent on their mission, forming groups of 10 or 15 families or individuals.

The motto used for each send-off is translated into several languages. This phrase is originally from St. Vincent Palloti and was quoted as often by Father Kentenich, Schoenstatt’s founder, as it was by deacon Pozzobon, the founder of the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate:

“She is the great missionary. She will work miracles!”

“Ona jest wielką Misjonarką. Ona będzie działała cuda!”

“Ella es la gran misionera. Ella obrará milagros”.

The webpage mentioned in this article is available at: www.pilgerheiligtum.de.

May 29, 2021 By Sr. M. Cacilda Becker

Saint Paul VI and a Schoenstatt Family promise

Saint Paul VI
and a Schoenstatt Family promise

Today, May 29, the Church celebrates St. Paul VI, a pope who played a most decisive role at a crucial moment in the history of Schoenstatt, the well-known "Fourth Milestone".

Ir. M. Nilza da Silva
May 29, 2021

Papa Paulo VI — Encontro no dia 22 de dezembro de 1965 (Foto - Arquivo Schoenstatt)

“Jesus is a radical. He gives his all but asks all from others as well. He is not satisfied with a mere percentage of your love. We cannot love him at twenty, fifty or sixty percent. It’s all or nothing.” (Pope Francis, during the mass for the canonization of Saint Paul VI)

On December 22, 1965, Saint Paul VI received Father Joseph Kentenich in audience at the Vatican. That date signaled the end of the Founder’s exile, and from that day on, the Church allowed Father Kentenich to return to Schoenstatt and to his work with the Movement giving full autonomy to Schoenstatt’s work.

Father Monnerjahn recalls that “a few days before the Christmas festivities, the news arrived that the Holy Pope (Paul VI) wished to receive Father Joseph Kentenich for an audience on December 22. It was a very exciting moment when Father Kentenich stood in front of Paul VI with his black cassock and his hair white as snow. Upright, as usual, he listened to the words spoken to him by the Pope from his throne and he answered in Latin. At the end, he presented the Pope with a chalice for the church that the Holy Father was planning to build in honor of Mary, Mother of the Church and in memory of the Council. The foundation stone had been blessed by the Pope in the solemn closure of the Council on December 8th.”1

A promise

With regards to a Church in transformation following the II Vatican Council, Father Kentenich promised the Holy Father that Schoenstatt would always remain faithful to the Church and that the Movement would pledge all its efforts to help the Church fulfill its enormous tasks after the Council.

It was during this period of renovation, coinciding with the launching of Saint Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae Encyclical, that the Founding Father wrote his well-known phrase to his Schoenstatt Family: “With hope and joy, confident in the victory, we go with Mary into the new era.”

Saint Paul VI spoke about Kentenich

Pope Paul VI, immediately after Father Kentenich’s death, mentioned his example on several occasions. At the general audience on April 8, 1970, while greeting a group of German pilgrims, he said: “My dear children! On the tombstone of a prominent German priest and pastor of souls the following words that are the expression of his personality and the content of his blessed life are engraved: ‘Dilexit Ecclesiam’, He loved the Church. These same words I now direct to you: Love the Church! In these troubled times, remain faithful to the Church’s magisterium and to Saint Peter’s successor. This way, your life will also become rich and meaningful.”

Gratitude

The Schoenstatt Family is grateful to Pope Paul VI for understanding the original mission that the Mother and Queen fulfills from her Shrines. He showed himself open to the Movement on several occasions so that the Holy Spirit could work in the life of the Church through Schoenstatt. Many of the ideas set forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi are highlighted by Father Kentenich.

We have a mediator in heaven: “Today, -said Pope Francis on the day of the mass for the canonization of Saint Paul VI- Jesus is inviting us to return to the fountains of joy, that is, to those encounters with Him, the courageous option of risking everything to follow Him, the joy of leaving everything behind to embrace His path […] Paul VI did this, following the example of the apostle whose name he had chosen as Pope. Just like Paul, he consumed his life for Christ’s Gospel, crossing new frontiers and becoming his witness by spreading the word and through dialogue, becoming prophet to a Church that is looking outwards, that looks at those found roadside and cares for the poor. Even in his troubles and through misunderstandings, Paul VI was a passionate witness to the beauty and joy of totally following Jesus. He is still encouraging us, together with the Council, of which he was wise navigator, to live our common vocation: the universal call to sanctity, not half-way, full sanctity.”

1 José Kentenich, A Life for the Church, Engelbert Monnerjahn, Editorial Patris Argentina, 2006, p. 292

2 Greetings message for the Schoenstatt Family during the Catholic Day in Essen, on September 7, 1968.

Source: www.schoenstatt.org.br

April 25, 2021 By Vanessa Franke

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

MTA

How much is your contribution to the Capital of Grace worth?