19 March 2022 · 2022-03 newsletter
“Schoenstatt’s Way: Authentic Witness to Holiness”
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
In our newsletter last month we looked at what “holiness” means and how we can ‘witness to holiness’ through our Schoenstatt Spirituality. We looked at what it means to be an “everyday saint” who strives to fulfil their duties according to the motto, “Do the ordinary things extraordinarily well out of love for God”
I would like to continue this theme and consider how we know what God asks of us each day and each moment. How do we discern God’s will in our life?
As tomorrow will be the Feast of St. Joseph, I would like to share with you an extract from a sermon given by Fr. Kentenich during a Mass in honour of St. Joseph on 18th March, 1967.
In this sermon Father Kentenich considers St. Joseph’s remarkable attitude to the will of God and hoped that through this example his listeners might be able to gain an insight into what it means to be a true instrument of God.
Father Kentenich said in part:
““To summarize what Sacred Scripture has to say [about St. Joseph] is to admit that little is said in terms of words. We find very little about St. Joseph. In both the Bible and in our souls he stands before us as the man of action. He doesn’t talk much—he acts! And if we would want to put his basic attitude in a nutshell, we would probably have to say that his entire life embodies the petition found in the Our Father, "Our Father,… thy Kingdom come," the Kingdom of the Father! "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!" Your will, the will of the Father! Not my will, not the will of the tyrants and dictators, no, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven….
I think we would have to admit from our own experience: No words are greater in the mouth and heart of a Christian, and no words are greater in the ear of the eternal Father- God. (….)
And how often do we speak—be it while praying Heavenwards or praying from our hearts—of the plans of the eternal Father!
Ours is but a single great idea: We want to give our yes to the plans of the eternal Father, be it his plans for the entire family or for our personal well-being, for our personality.
"We have but a single longing: Lead us according to your wise plans."
Turn now to Sacred Scripture. We hear about St. Joseph’s great dilemma. But a single word from heaven is enough to suddenly resolve the difficulty. Dispelled were all his questions about the honour of his bride, all the doubts he struggled with in his heart. The message from above:
"Do not fear to take Mary, your wife, to yourself" (Mt 1, 20). What followed? He followed! In other words:
"Yes, Father, yes, your will be ever done, whether joy or pain or sorrow from it come."
Your will, your fatherly will, should always be done! In the great difficulties of the Holy Family, Joseph always relied on God’s word from above: "Get up, take the Child and his mother, and go to Egypt!" (Mt 2, 13). Here we can sense how clear and yet how difficult it was to carry out this directive. What followed? [He followed!—] "He got up…" (Mt 2, 14). Do you grasp the meaning of this? "God’s will, be still!" "Nothing is mere coincidence; everything comes from God’s providence!"
And when those who wished to kill Our Lord had died, Joseph was told to return to the land of Israel which he had left behind (cf. Mt 2, 19-21). What followed? He followed!”
What is the meaning of this fundamental attitude of conformity to the will of God as seen in the life of St. Joseph? This is the same as asking what is the meaning of the yes, the joyful, grateful, happy yes to all the things God the eternal Father does and permits in our lives, and to the ways he expresses his wish and will.”
As we journey through this season of Lent, may we contemplate what our fundamental attitude is to conforming to the will of God in our life? May Our Blessed Mother be with us and send us many joys and blessings as we strive to say our “yes Father”.
In Covenant unity,
Shirley Hall
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