18 September 2021 · 2021-09 newsletter
Family, be what you are: Domestic Church
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Blessings and greetings for this Covenant Day – 18th September.
This month we remember and commemorate the anniversary of the death of Father Kentenich on 15th September 1968.
As members of the Schoenstatt family we are challenged to keep his “founding spirit” alive and visible in the Church and society. In accepting this mission, we might ask ourselves how we live this mission and pass it on to others.
Father Kentenich’s understanding of a mission as sharing in the mission of Jesus Christ explains his deeper understanding of the apostolate. This highlights not just the apostolic action, or the valuable service of proclamation and administering the sacrament of baptism; it emphasises the living witness and influence of the apostle based on his or her Christ-likeness. What matters is making Christ increasingly present in our modern world.
In evaluating the various forms of apostolic and missionary activity, the witness of the life and being of the apostle takes first place. This explains the emphasis placed on education and self-education in the Movement. According to our Founder, the grace of apostolic fruitfulness that Schoenstatt expects is not least connected with the Blessed Mother’s education and formation of its members in the shrine, which remains the source of life for the apostolate.
During a Conference in Rome (17 November 1965), Father Kentenich said:
“Today people say: The most important thing is to make Christ present in the world. How are we to make Christ present? First of all through the way we are, through bearing the divine life within ourselves….
We Catholics today have more to do to exemplify and demonstrate this complete way of making Christ present, than to talk about it. That is why we do not try as in the past to drag others to join us. We have far more respect for the person as a whole. So how can we describe the apostolate? It is, as was often said in the past, the apostolate of exemplifying the fullness of religion. Everything has to be exemplified! I can no longer remember the definition of the apostolate in “Everyday Sanctity” in detail, but it is the overflow of divine life from an inner fullness. So I have to live. I pass on my life. I may also do so through what I say, but the most important thing is the apostolate of what we are.”
FOR REFLECTION:
- Can I say of myself that God has given me a great mission in Christ and through the Blessed Mother?
- Must I not also learn to say of myself, must I not also educate myself in such a way that I can honestly and truthfully say with full and clear knowledge: I have chosen the better part, I have accepted this mission?
(Quotes from: “His Mission, Our Mission”, ed. Peter Wolf)
Could I ask you to also continue praying for those members of our Schoenstatt Family who in these difficult times are struggling in any way, especially with illness, either themselves or members of their family? May our Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt, comfort them and send them many graces and blessings from her shrine.
Just as your Son healed, stilled hunger
and comforted the sick while here on earth,
go with him quietly through our midst,
giving your blessing and helping us with
the arm of your unlimited motherly power.(from: Heavenwards, “Prayer in Time of Need”)
May we continue to remain united in Covenant loyalty,
Shirley Hall
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections