18 May 2023 · 2023-05 newsletter
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Greetings and blessings for this Covenant Day – 18th May.
The month of May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. At all times, but especially during this month we give special thanks to Our Lady for all the gifts and graces she has given us through our Shrines and through our Covenant of Love in being with us in our daily lives.
On each Covenant Day we see on the altar cloth in the shrine, the words, “Nothing without you Nothing without us” These words remind us of Schoenstatt’s dependence on the presence and activity of Mary in the Shrine. The “Nothing without Us” indicates the necessity of our cooperation and striving so that the terms by which Mary was persuaded to come and dwell in Schoenstatt are met.
We refer to our participation as our “contributions to the capital of grace.” In our Covenant of Love with Mary, we actively bring our prayers, sacrifices and striving for sanctity and make the merits of these good works available to the MTA for her mission in the service of Christ.
In the video for the March Covenant Day, Sr. Elizabeth spoke of Joseph Engling and his great love for Our Lady. During the month of May, Joseph particularly wanted to honour his Blessed Mother (or his “Little Mother” as he called her) and bring her his ‘May blossoms.” So great was his love for his “Little Mother” that even during his time on the battle front, he continued to offer all the hardships and challenges connected with the First World War conditions to his Mother for her capital of grace.
Father Kentenich said of him, that he was one of the first of the boys to really understand the Covenant of Love and what Fr. Kentenich meant in the Founding Document when he said on behalf of Our Blessed Mother: “Diligently bring me contributions to the capital of grace. By a faithful and most faithful fulfilment of your duties and a life of ardent prayer, earn many merits and place them at my disposal. Undoubtedly, we could not accomplish a greater apostolic deed nor leave our successors a more precious legacy than to urge our Lady and Queen to erect her throne here in a special way, to distribute her treasures, and to work miracles of grace. You gather what I am aiming at: I would like to make this place a place of pilgrimage, a place of grace for our house and for the whole German province, and perhaps even further afield.”
In 1933 Father Kentenich re-iterated this when he said:
“Our place of grace (the shrine) is the result of the co-operation between God and ourselves, between the Blessed Mother and ourselves…. A constant imperative is Co-operation! Nothing without me! Nothing in Schoenstatt may happen without me, that is to say, the river of grace may not be increased or directed out from here without me. The concept “contributions to the capital of grace” expresses the same truth. We all have this task…..
This is laid down in the Founding Document. Schoenstatt will cease to be a place of pilgrimage, or to carry out its task in the world, unless the capital of grace is increased, or if what is there is used up and nothing new is added….
I am convinced that there are a huge number of very ordinary people in the background without whom Schoenstatt would not exist. The most necessary and most important people are those who constantly care most for the capital of grace, who unite their hearts and bloodstream with the heart and bloodstream of the capital of grace. …..
Schoenstatt stands or falls with the people who really strive for holiness, and who connect this striving for holiness with our shrine. These are things that have always been there and have always been at work. …”
(Extracts from “His Mission Our Mission, p.64-68), J. Kentenich; talk during Christmas Conference, Schoenstatt, 28 January 1933
As we continue through this month of May, you might like to reflect on what you can give to our Blessed Mother as your contributions to her capital of grace, so that the Schoenstatt Shrines may continue to be places of grace.
What is my gift to our Blessed Mother during this month of May?
In a spirit of unity through our Covenant of Love, I wish each of you many blessings and graces from the Shrine on this Covenant Day and for the remainder of May, this special month of Our Lady.
Shirley Hall
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections