13 August 2021 · 2021-08 newsletter
For the past 22 years we, as Melbourne Schoenstatt Family have celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother into heaven (15 August) as our special feastday.
On this feast in 1999 our small Schoenstatt Family gathered at the Shrine in Kew and invited the Blessed Mother to once again take possession of the Shrine as a Schoenstatt Shrine. For the previous 35 years, because there were no active members of Schoenstatt bringing their contributions to the Capital of Grace, the Shrine had ceased to be the place of grace which we have again experienced in these past 22 years.
It took the conscious apostolic endeavours of Vince and Emily Dawson and the increasing number of Melbournians involved in the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate to once again “remind” the Blessed Mother of the Covenant of Love sealed on 11 May 1952 when the Shrine was blessed. Vince and Emily had been regularly visiting the Shrine around the 18th of the month since 1994, bringing their contributions to Our Lady and asking her to be spiritually present in the Shrine again for the people of Melbourne. Vince, who had become ill in the April of 1999, also offered his life for the fruitfulness of the Shrine.
Our Lady accepted his offer just over 3 weeks after the celebration and ‘reconquering’ of the Shrine. The feast in 1999 was prepared by a nine-week novena which, since then, has become a tradition for our Melbourne Schoenstatt Family. The Pilgrim Mother Coordinators also renew their annual commitment to the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate on this day ensuring that the Blessed Mother continues her visits to the homes of many, bringing them the graces she intercedes for us in her Schoenstatt Shrines. A rosary procession from the nearby Carmelite Chapel to the Shrine has also become an annual feature of the Feastday.
Last year, and again this year, the novena has been prayed in our homes as access to the Shrine has not been possible because of the pandemic. The feast itself, once again falling on a Sunday, will be celebrated via Zoom as the Shrine at Kew is closed at this time. We invite everyone to spiritually unite with us to thank the Blessed Mother for her many blessings from the Kew Shrine, to pray for an end to the pandemic and for growth of our Schoenstatt Family in Melbourne.
The Melbourne Schoenstatt Family
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