20 February 2023 · 2023-02 newsletter
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Greetings and blessings on this Covenant Day – 18th February. Once again as a Schoenstatt Family we join together around our Blessed Mother and our father and founder, to renew our commitment to our covenant of love and accept once again the mission that Our Blessed Mother gives to each one of us from her shrine.
During the past year we looked at how we can be authentic witnesses to holiness through our Schoenstatt spirituality. An integral part of being able to live our Schoenstatt spirituality is coming to know our father and founder – Father Kentenich.
Whoever studies Fr. Kentenich will notice that from time to time he acknowledged that he had been gripped by a divine mission in a very personal way. He stated that his mission was to proclaim the mission of Mary that he had been given by God, with her specific mission from her Schoenstatt Shrines for today.
But you will also notice that he did not claim this mission for himself alone. He saw it as a mission for the whole Schoenstatt Family. He devoted all his energies to serving this mission which he himself said he would never have taken upon himself for something that was man-made.
He was gripped by this mission, and it sustained his commitment. This is true of him as the prophetic leader, but also of the members of his Movement. To uphold our faith in our mission, we have to be also gripped by this mission. In order to do this our founder repeatedly advised us to study and reflect on the history of the Movement in the light of faith in Divine Providence.
He said:
“Our faith is first and foremost founded, as with every Christian, on our Baptism. We also have our faith in Divine Providence which is actually at the disposal of every community. It is the simple and silent way of telling ourselves: God is speaking to us through circumstances. In these days we need to pray a great deal for a profound growth of faith in our mission… and the sense of being gripped by a mission.”
As a community we base ourselves on simple faith in Divine Providence
“From time to time we may ask ourselves, “How is it possible for such a small Family (we might think of us here in Australia) to be given such a mission? And am I, with all my miseries and weaknesses, to be drawn into this great mission? I could say, “I can’t: I am so awkward, so useless”. We may feel weak and useless, and we may tell the Blessed Mother about it time and again, yet we are nevertheless convinced that we have been chosen. And in public life we need to stand there with unshakable faith in our mission. When we are together we need to be aware of having a holy mission and that it is not just my mission, but our mission.
If we beg one grace through the intercession of our Mother Thrice Admirable, it is for the grace to be gripped by our mission, but also for the grace to believe unshakably in Divine Providence and our mission. That has to be the keystone of our entire thinking; our entire lives have to be directed towards it.
(From: His Mission our Mission”, J. Kentenich, Conference for Leaders of Women’s League, December 1945)
I pray that we may all be gripped by our Schoenstatt mission through the graces of Our Blessed Mother that we receive through her Shrines (Daughter Shrines, Home shrines, Pilgrim Mother Shrines and Heart Shrines). May we continue to share the blessings of Schoenstatt with others.
United in our Covenant,
Shirley Hall
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections