30 April 2022 · 2022-04 newsletter
Begun as an initiative of Pope Francis during Lent in the 2016 Jubilee Year of Mercy, 24 Hours for the Lord is held each year internationally with the support of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation. Mt Schoenstatt in Sydney has joined in this evangelising movement since that first year, interrupted only by the restrictions of the last couple of COVID years.
This year people from the Men’s Branch, the Family Branch, and the Sisters organised and supervised the event. The Shrine was open for all the 24 Hours with someone there each hour of the night and many more coming at the other hours. We started and finished with Mass with Fr Pawel who also offered the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Half-way through Lent each year, ‘Seeing again’ is really what the 24 Hours is about: “To see again, because our sins have made us lose sight of all that is good, and have robbed us of the beauty of our calling, leading us instead far away from our journey’s end.” The ‘seeing’ is realised in both the silence of prayer and contemplation, as well as in the Mass and Reconciliation. There has always been an emphasis on Reconciliation at the 24 Hours. Pope Francis in 2016 said: “We must certainly not water down the demands of the Gospel, but we cannot risk frustrating the desire of the sinner to be reconciled with the Father. For what the Father awaits more than anything is for his sons and daughters to return home (cf. Lk 15:20-32).”
24 Hours is normally offered in Cathedrals and parish Churches. When the NSW State Team gave its support again to this year’s 24 Hours it appreciated how central this is to the apostolate around the Shrine by simply bringing Schoenstatt members and friends there to enable our Mother Mary and her Son to work miracles of the heart.
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