18 July 2025 · 2025-07 newsletter
United in the Covenant – Pilgrims of Hope
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Greetings and blessings for this Covenant Day – the 18th of July. The focus of our striving this year reflects our unity in our Covenant of Love as we try to live our apostolate as Pilgrims of Hope.
With this in mind, I would like to share with you some information about how our Schoenstatt consecration came to be called a “Covenant of Love” and why Father Kentenich often spoke of the importance of renewing our Covenant each month, particularly, united as a family.
Why is the Schoenstatt consecration called a “Covenant of Love”?
You may be wondering how the Schoenstatt consecration came to be called a “Covenant of Love?” It was always understood as a mutual covenant between Mary and those who consecrated themselves to her in the Shrine. Theologically, it was understood as a specific way of fulfilling the injunction of Our Lord before He died: “Woman, behold your son… [Son,] behold your Mother” (Jn 19,26f).
As a form of Marian consecration, it was in continuity with the consecration of the Marian Sodality (Schoenstatt’s first community form), and until 1944 it was simply called the “consecration” or “MTA-consecration”.
Inquiries from the Diocese of Trier in the mid-1930s forced Schoenstatt to come to a clearer grasp of what it meant by “consecration”: it is not a contractus bilateralis onerosus (a litigatious contract “forcing” Mary to honour our prayers and sacrifices), but rather as a contractus bilateralis gratuitus, namely a contract entered into by both parties (the MTA and Schoenstatt) freely and out of love.
In 1944, while in Dachau, Fr. Kentenich coined the precise term needed to express this – the “covenant of love”. “Covenant” was a better word than “contract” for it expresses a more generous spirit and a personal act of self-giving, and “love” made it clear that the foundation was not justice or a false self-righteousness but truly love. The term “covenant of love” was quickly adopted by Schoenstatt as the official name for its Marian consecration and it has been used as a keyword in Schoenstatt vocabulary ever since.
(200 Questions about Schoenstatt, Fr. J. Niehaus, P.47)
Why do we celebrate the Covenant of Love each month?
In the time following World War II, millions of displaced people streamed from East to West, travelling through Germany on the way. Father Josef Barton, himself a refugee, was given the task of caring for refugees in the so-called “refugee apostolate”.
In 1947 he held the first retreat course for refugees in Schoenstatt. Many of the participants made their covenant of love with the Mother Thrice Admirable, finding in the shrine a home and new strength to bear their heavy cross. During the final discussion, they expressed the need to foster their contact with Schoenstatt. Father Josef Fischer, Movement Leader at that time, suggested making the 18th of every month a “Covenant Day” with a renewal of the covenant of love of 18th October 1914. The idea also came up of having a “Covenant Book” in the shrine with the names of all who had made the covenant with the Mother Thrice Admirable.
This idea was passed on to Fr Kentenich, who immediately gave his agreement in writing. On the next occasion, 18 July 1947, the first “Covenant Mass” was celebrated in the original shrine, and the first pages of the Covenant Book lay on the altar.
Fr Kentenich was in South America at the time and passed on the idea. The individual Schoenstatt Centres took up the idea enthusiastically and the monthly renewal of the covenant became a popular feature. ……… As time went by, the Covenant Day united the worldwide Schoenstatt Family ever more strongly.
Here in Australia, we celebrate the Covenant of Love on what we call “Covenant Sunday”, that is, the third Sunday of each month. Regardless of when we celebrate our Covenant of Love as a Schoenstatt Family, whether it be on the 18th of each month, or on the Covenant Sunday, the words of Father Kentenich apply equally about the reason why we should celebrate our Covenant of Love together each month as a Schoenstatt Family.
Father Kentenich’s view of the Covenant celebrations was:
“We want to bring our sacrifices to the shrine on the 18th of every month. Why should we do this? Our Mother Thrice Admirable and Queen needs our contributions to her capital of grace. She wants what our Saviour wants. He did not want to die only for me, for only one person; he wanted everyone to be saved. Our Lady needs our prayers and sacrifices to accomplish this.”
(Monday Evening Talks, Vol 1, 20.2.1956)
What does this day remind us of? That we form a community united in love with one another and with our Lady. What are we renewing today? We are renewing our exchange of love, hearts, and sacrifices. Not just we do this, our dear Mother Thrice Admirable also does so. She exchanges her heart, her love, and her sacrifices with us. We are renewing our exchange of hearts and love.
We on our part say ‘Yes, Father; yes, Mother’ to this exchange of hearts, love, and sacrifices. Let us not overlook that an exchange of sacrifices is an essential part of this.
……Schoenstatt members all over the world renew their attitude of love and sacrifice on the 18th of every month. They bring our Lady all their sacrifices on the 18th.
We do not come empty-handed to our shrine. Nor do we leave it with empty hands. Our hands are filled with graces. Why do we bring our sacrifices to the shrine? So that they can become a means to sanctify us. We should not ask for this grace for ourselves alone, but also for others, for the whole world. ‘I sanctify myself for them’ (cf Jn 17,19). We bring our sacrifices and place them on the paten on the altar, so that our Lady can save and sanctify souls. We should renew this attitude every 18th for the coming month.
(Monday Evening Talks, vol 1, 18.2.1956)
For the blessing of the Shrine in Kew Father Kentenich wrote something similar:
“Everywhere people find their way to her Shrines…..They do not grow tired of offering to God’s Mother the sacrifices of their serious efforts in self-education which co-operation with grace demands of them in everyday life. Large numbers of people offer these sacrifices especially on the 18th of each month. From these gatherings they return home enriched in spirit with new incentives and actual graces for the great work of their transformation into Christ.” (11th May, 1952)
May we continue to celebrate our Covenant of Love on the 18th of each month (or the Covenant Sunday) and bring our contribution to the Capital of Grace, so that united in our Covenant of Love, we may receive rich blessings and graces from our Schoenstatt shrines and from our Blessed Mother for the coming month. May you and your family be richly blessed.
United in covenant loyalty,
Shirley Hall
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