Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement

Schönstatt

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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.

MTA - Original Shrine

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
Capital of Grace

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

Read more: What mean the jug in Schoenstatt Shrine?

 

Source: www.schoenstatt.org.br

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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
Pilgrim Mother Germany

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.

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Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

After the great Solemnity of Pentecost, when Jesus and the Father sent down the Holy Spirit upon us, the Church solemnly celebrates the Holy Trinity. What are the lessons of the Trinity for us? We can mention a few...

Fr Francisco José Lemes Gonçalves
May 29, 2021

God, three persons in one, forms a family 

 

To reinforce this reality, God wanted his Son to be born into a family. We can say that the family is an expression of the truth of this trinity. In a family, the couple and their children, within their day-to-day life, make visible a mutual selfless love, a relationship and growth that should illuminate the truths of the family environment.

 

Unity in diversity

 

In our daily lives and our communities, the Trinity is a model of unity even in its diversity, whether those communities follow a monastic, religious or an everyday secular life. In these environments Trinitarian love gives life to the community’s charisma, like the evangelical principles of poverty, obedience and chastity; it tightens bonds to the point that others can exclaim: “Look how they love each other!”.

In ordinary everyday activities such as work, sports and other situations in which we are together, the Trinitarian presence should serve as a guide. The Father, the Son and the Spirit, united, teach us respect for others and their opinions, care for natural and material goods, solidarity not only in times of catastrophe but at all times. It should motivate us to work together, each respecting the individuality and abilities of the other.

 

“Renew the face of the earth!

 

The Holy Trinity is a truth that must permeate our whole life. In this way we will be able to fulfill what the Scriptures say: “Renew the face of the earth!

May our daughter shrines, home shrines and heart shrines be places that radiate a Trinitarian experience because our Mother is the model of this Trinitarian action in daily life. We can say that she and her husband St. Joseph learned to live the Trinity in their lives. 

 

Like our founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, we pray: ” Glory be joyfully given to the Father through Christ with Mary, highly praised, in the Holy Spirit full of splendor from the universe now and in all eternity. Amen”*

 

* Heavenwards, midnight prayer of the hours of the Schoenstatt Office.

 

 

Fotos: archiv, Cathopic

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The Schoenstatt Families Festival: at home this year

The Schoenstatt Families Festival: at home this year

On May 29 the Festival of Families AT HOME 2021 (ZUHAUSE 2021 in German) will take place. The Schoenstatt Families Movement in Germany invites couples and families to participate in this festival. The pandemic is not an impediment for this activity to be held in 2021, since a format was found to make this experience possible for many families.

Claudia Brehm
20 May 2021

www.familienbewegung.de

Together Strong

The Family Festival took place in Schoenstatt in 2018 for the first time.  Still today, the families who participated then speak highly of the encounter, the joy, the experience of God and the motivation that they experienced that weekend. It was decided that similar family festivals would be held every three years. Since it is currently imposible to have a physical encounter in Schoenstatt due to the pandemic, a Festival of Families AT HOME was planned for this year. 

On May 29, the families can invite their neighbors, friends, acquaintances or relatives to a family picnic. Or, if the person lives by himself, he could visit someone else. Or maybe the children could invite their parents to have some fun, or the other way around. There are no limits to the imagination. The idea is to get together, share with others and live the motto: “Together Strong” – in German: Das WIR trägt-. Dialogue is key in every marriage and in every family. Coexisting in a society depends on being able to listen to and understand each other. Through dialogue, feeling that we are stronger together helps us to grow and share.

Ansgar Hoffmann, from Bautzen, father of four, has written a song we can listen to and sing  at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsUXcPjxc2U .

Online networking

The online connection spots will be at 11:00 -Click & Meet- and at 21:00 -Click & Pray-. Also, there will be additional online connection spots during the afternoon for everyone, especially for those couples/families who decide to celebrate the festival at home by themselves. These connection spots have been created for inspiration, sharing and praying. The detailed program can be found at the webpage www.familienbewegung.de.

 

The festival package

Those who registered on the Family Movement webpage before May 10 received the “festival package” at home with a family picnic blanket. The idea was for the items in the package to inspire living that day in a creative manner. Suggestions are included for games, handicrafts, exchange of ideas or expressing feelings and thoughts in a digital format about topics that are relevant to couples and families.  

To prepare and sample the family feast AT HOME, three online encounters were offered during the last three months where several elements of the motto were discussed. Three couples spoke about the inspiration provided by the Motto Together Strong: Experiencing the sense of a true home, feeling our own transformation and perceiving the need to be apostles.

We are still gladly accepting registrations at the Family Movement webpage. All the daily links will be available.  Unfortunately, the “festival package” can no longer be sent.

 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDbjIZlohUc

In a few words

Family festival AT HOME (ZUHAUSE) webpage

How will the Family Festival AT HOME take place?

-Make Saturday, May 29, 2021 a feast day. 

– Invite couples and families from you inner circle.

– Plan a family picnic according to your own ideas.

– Choose an individual plan for the day: walks, family reunion, garden party…

– Allow yourself to be surprised by the day’s program.

-Connect digitally with the other participants at 11:00 AND AT 21:00.

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Who are you? What are your life’s projects?

Who are you? What are your life’s projects?

How fruitful and fulfilling it is to live honest to ourselves in a genuine way, as each person truly is! On the other hand, how frustrating and barren it is when we repeat patterns or act like machines, in the same standardized way.

Fr. Guillermo Carmona
May 12th. 2021
P. Guillermo Carmona

Each of us is unique and from this originality arises a life project, a personal mission. That which is very difficult for some may be very pleasant for others. The act of discovering my own gifts, who I am, and what the meaning of my life is provides stability and strength. It also helps in the harmonious development of society.

But how do I discover my own originality when it feels like we must all be the same, wear the latest fashion, watch the same television shows, and follow the same trends? Get to know your temperament, review your personal history, question your concerns, and give yourself some time.

“Life is composed of decisions, events – foreseen or coincidental-, unexpected gifts, accidents, successes and failures, ‘triggering’ and rewarding experiences, loves and heartbreaks… These events make up the soap opera of each individual’s life. Many times, we can perceive a mission or task in that life,” explains Fr. Guillermo Carmona, a Schoenstatt Father from Argentina, in his book My Project of Life.

He adds, “Each person harbors within their heart their own desires, original aspirations, passions, expectations, and needs. They have a scale of objective and subjective values, priorities, and preferences that form a multifaceted picture, their personal identity.

“From our temperament, personal history, concerns, and expectations, we can extract an insight, a significance, a purpose. These are not simply events of fate or random coincidences,” he assures.

Fr. Carmona also suggests ten questions you must ask yourself to find your life plan:

  1. What are your most positive qualities, the most important values that you want to retain?
  2. What dimensions of your personality would you like to complement, that is, that you would like to acquire to be more balanced, fulfilled, and happy?
  3. What opinion do others have of you?
  4. What joyful moments filled with a sense of accomplishment and happiness do you remember in your life?
  5. What have been the most difficult obstacles or hurdles you have had to overcome and surpass?
  6. Who has influenced your life positively and decisively?
  7. What would you like others to say about you when you are no longer alive?
  8. What symbols do you identify with?
  9. What traits of any person or leader in history do you identify with?
  10. What are the realities of the world that concern you?

“In a perfect way, you are to become the noble and grand that is within you.” (Fr. Joseph Kentenich)