I have been the director of the Schoenstatt Movement in Colombia for a year and a half, and I dream of having a professional journalistic team, cameras, and all the necessary recording equipment to capture something truly remarkable. Something that, at least for me, has had a profound impact: the living and active presence of Mary, the Blessed Mother in Colombia.

I have known Schoenstatt in Chile since I was 13 years old, and one of the things that has always captivated me is that, in our spirituality, faith is not primarily based on spectacular supernatural events. Yes, we firmly believe that Mary is truly present in each Shrine, but not because she has appeared there or because some miraculous event has occurred, but because, with faith, we ask for it and offer contributions to the Capital of Grace so that it may happen. We believe in this presence because we trust in the promise of her Son to accompany us until the end of time (Mt 28:20). From the Shrine, we believe in this faithful God who acts in the everyday, in the simple, in the small, and the hidden.

Jesus himself told us: “Blessed are those who believe without seeing” (Jn 20:29). And my faith has always been based on that God of life, on that good Father, who does everything out of love, who gave us his Son as the Redeemer of the world. And I believe in that Son who, from the cross, also gave us his Mother so that we could receive her in our home, in our hearts. That is why Mary dwells in our Shrines, because we have welcomed her. Because we seal with her a Covenant of Love, offering her our surrender so that, from there, she can live and work as intercessor, as Mother, as Queen.

“The more natural, the more supernatural”

Father Joseph Kentenich’s expression has always resonated with me: “The more natural, the more supernatural”. I was never attracted to the “miraculous”. I even heard, once, I don’t know if it’s true, that the Father and Founder was asked if he expected a supernatural manifestation of Mary in the Shrine, and he answered, “If that were to happen, we would be in a very bad way.”

That is how I grew up: with a simple but profound faith. And also with a missionary spirit, taking Mary’s glories, which are none other than those of her Son, to many places through the Covenant of Love. As the Schoenstatt youth once said, “Schoenstatt does not do missions, Schoenstatt is mission.” And this is how we have experienced it in numerous missions with youth, families, the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign, and various apostolates. The Blessed Mother has transformed the lives of thousands of people: couples, families, young people, the sick, the elderly.

And when I arrived in Colombia, I found this great surprise. I found myself with a missionary Blessed Mother, who walks loose and free, traveling through every corner of the country, choosing and forming her instruments: simple men and women with available hearts, whom she has found along the way.

With effort and joy, we are conquering our first Shrine

In Colombia, the Movement has been in existence for years, although it lacks a very consolidated structure. I believe this is partly because the consecrated Schoenstatt communities, such as the Schoenstatt Fathers and the Sisters of Mary, have not yet established themselves permanently. We have to accompany them from afar: Ecuador and Costa Rica. However, as in the Visitation to her cousin St. Elizabeth (Lk 1:39-40), Mary does not wait, does not calculate, does not plan. She goes out in haste from the Shrine to meet her children.

In this country of coffee and flowers, the Blessed Mother has found two homes: one in Pereira and the other in Armenia. She has managed to work from there. And now, with much effort and joy, we are conquering her first shrine in the capital, in the hills of Suba, Bogotá. Everyone is cordially invited to join this campaign.

But there is something different in Colombia

But what moves me most in Colombia is seeing how she has made herself present through concrete signs, with truly impressive miracles, especially physical healing. Those that perhaps we do not preach or emphasize, but that we do not doubt that they happen. In different regions, the missionaries of the Schoenstatt Pilgrim Mother Apostolate bear witness to how the Blessed Mother has interceded for them and many others. Seeing and listening to them moves me to tears. I think, for example, of what I have seen in Rionegro, Medellin, Cali, Chia, and, of course, in Bogota.

I don’t know how to explain what I feel; words are too short for me. Therefore, I dream that someday we will be able to record all of this in a documentary. We have always said in Schoenstatt that “She is the great missionary and that she will work miracles”. But I have never before been a direct witness to so many miracles so evident, so touching, worthy of a movie.

And the most beautiful thing is that the people, whose hands Mary has blessed, have gone out like her, without calculation, without strategy, without seeking recognition, to share their experience and to take the Blessed Mother to more corners of Colombia.

The Pilgrim MTA arrives to Miguel Uribe, the candidate who was shot during an attack

An example of this is the case of Laura Villamil. Without knowing the Mother Thrice Admirable Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt, she received her Pilgrim MTA in the clinic, when she was facing a critical condition: 90% of her body had suffered burns. The Blessed Mother came to her from another woman, who had also experienced a miracle: her son, whom I know and have blessed, was miraculously healed after the visit of the Pilgrim Mother in a moment of great anguish.

This mother, without knowing Laura, came in contact with her and wanted to take the image to the hospital. Laura recovered and understood, in the depths of her heart, that this grace came through the intercession of Our Lady.

With a heart full of gratitude, Laura is doing the same today. On June 7, after learning of the assassination attempt against Senator Miguel Uribe, she was moved to act. This dramatic event was not only an unjust attempt on the life of a human being, but also on the fabric of a society that has already suffered so much from violence. And Laura, in haste like Mary, went to the Santa Fe Foundation to take the image of the Pilgrim Mother to Miguel, to ask for her intercession, to work for his healing.

But beyond this specific miracle, which, by the way, we ask the Blessed Mother of Schoenstatt, I am convinced that Mary wants to heal a wounded Colombia. She wants to present herself as the Mother of her people. She will not allow evil to have the last word. She is building her house in Bogota, because from there she wants to share her graces: to shelter us, to transform us, and to send us out as apostles.

Many are united today in prayer for the recovery of Miguel Uribe. What is in God’s plan, we still do not fully understand, but what I do not doubt is that the Blessed Mother (as we affectionately call her in Schoenstatt) does not allow herself to be won over by generosity. And this battle, as Queen and Mother, will be fought together with her Son Jesus, so that Colombia may be a living testimony of God’s love, of a great faith and true peace, the one that Christ promised.

Today, the Blessed Mother of Schoenstatt appears in many Colombian newscasts and social networks, not because it was scheduled or anything like that, but simply because she chose her instruments and rushed to visit and heal her children. She surprises us all!

Fr. Pablo Gajardo, Isch
National Director Schoenstatt Movement Colombia

Translation: Sr. M Lourdes Macías