17 January 2025 · 2025-01 newsletter
United in the Covenant – Pilgrims of Hope
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Welcome to our first Schoenstatt Movement Newsletter for 2025 – for this Covenant day – 18th January. I wish you and your family many blessings and graces from the Shrine for this day and for this year.
I hope that you had a very blessed, happy, and holy Christmas with family and friends, and that you have had a good start to this new year.
During this Jubilee Year, (which began on December 24th with the opening of the Holy Doors in Rome and will end on January 6, 2026), we want to be united as pilgrims of hope.
We want to strive to make this year a time of joy and hope for us all. While we cannot ignore the pain and suffering that we know is always around us, we also cannot become anesthetized in the face of problems.
That is not what hope is. To have hope means to CHOOSE to focus on the good and beautiful things that inspire us every day and, simultaneously, to believe in the good that is yet to come. And to keep trusting in a loving, gentle and kind Father God.
In keeping with our motto for this year, we want to strive together, “United in our Covenant of Love – Pilgrims of Hope”. We want to look at the world with joy and hope, knowing that humanity can improve but to achieve this, we must make our contribution, even if it is only a ‘drop in the ocean’.
As “Pilgrims of Hope”, we entrust ourselves to Mary and ask her to fill our hearts with hope. United in our Covenant of Love we can rest assured that Mary will be constantly with us, educating us and helping us to be pilgrims of hope. During this year may we reflect hope and be an oasis of encouragement, joy, and confidence to all those we encounter. Fr. Joseph Kentenich explains,
“The Christian feels the harshness of these setbacks, but his will and his heart are reassured by the conviction that nothing happens by chance; everything comes from God’s will!” [1].
According to Father Kentenich, God does not command evil but allows it to happen when he knows that even better things can come from it, and in this lies our great hope. As Pope Francis said:
“Hope is not an empty word, or a vague desire of ours that things may turn out for the best; hope is a certainty, because it is founded on God’s fidelity to His promises.
The Christian cannot be satisfied with having hope; he or she must also radiate hope, be a sower of hope. It is the most beautiful gift that the Church can give to all of humanity, especially at times in which everything seems to be dragging down the sails” [2].
I wish each of you many blessings and graces from our Shrines, that with Our Blessed Mother, we may radiate hope, joy and peace to all whom we meet during the coming month.
United in our Covenant of Love,
Shirley Hall
[1] Father Joseph Kentenich; Dr M. A. Nailis. Everyday sanctity – vol 1.
[2] Pope Francis. General Audience. 11.12.2024
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections