19 January 2026 · 2026-01 newsletter
United in the Covenant – Pilgrims of Hope
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Welcome to our first Covenant Day for 2026 – the 18th January. I wish you and your family many blessings and graces from the Shrine and hope you had very blessed and holy Christmas and a good start to this new year.
This month I would like to focus on the 20th January, 1942 which is referred to as Schoenstatt’s Second Milestone. Such is its importance that Father Kentenich often spoke of it as “the axis of Schoenstatt’s history” and the “interwovenness” of fates between himself and his Schoenstatt Family.
This was the day on which Fr. Kentenich decided not to use any natural means to avoid possible transportation to the concentration camp. He believed that his freedom would be secured if the Schoenstatt Family took seriously their commitment to the Blank Cheque and Inscriptio. He put his fate in the hands of his Schoenstatt Family.
On one occasion in reference to the 20th January, 1942, Father Kentenich said:
“Seen in a supernatural light, we are a real family: I and my followers – my followers and I. If we are a real family in God’s plans, then our destiny is interwoven, our destiny is interconnected in the supernatural sense. Practically speaking, the sacrifices my followers make on my behalf are really for my person; I count on this reality, and it has proven effective. By the same token, the sacrifices I offer on behalf of the Family are a means to save the Family. This offers a much greater security than if I had the whole Gestapo on my side…. Do you understand this extraordinarily deep supernatural attitude? I did not want to be liberated by natural means; I did not want to be liberated by the doctors or the Gestapo….
We have made a covenant with the Blessed Mother, and this is a reality. We were earnest about the covenant of love… Seen within the framework of the whole Founding Document and the covenant of love, it had to be taken for granted that the condition of my freedom was the inscriptio made by the whole family.”
My inscriptio protected Schoenstatt, and the inscriptio of the Family gave me back my freedom. This is a classic example of spiritual interconnectedness, of mutual interwovenness. Here you see the new person in the new community, not only talked about but exemplified and lived.”
(From: “In Union with the Father” – JK Brazil, 1952)
The 20th January was for Fr. Kentenich the deepening of his Covenant of Love with our MTA, the deepening of the first milestone of 18th October 1914. This milestone asks us to look at what the Covenant of Love means for us in our life and what responsibility do we take to continue the work of our Father even during difficult and frustrating experiences that may come our way.
This year I hope we can spend some time looking at how we can ‘walk together’, as “Pilgrims of Hope”. What does the “interwovenness” of fates mean for us as members of Schoenstatt here in Australia? How can we participate in celebrating the “milestones” in our Australian Schoenstatt history this year, as one Family, united in our Covenant of Love?
Further to Schoenstatt’s Second Milestone
Because of the importance of the 20th January 1942 in the history and formation of Schoenstatt, I would like to include two reflections.
REFLECTION 1
WHAT NO ONE ELSE COULD SEE
Fr. Heinz Dresbach was one of those closest to Fr. Kentenich in Dachau. He soon grasped how important January 20 was to the Founder and included here are two short reflections by Fr. Dresbach to help us appreciate the magnitude of this event:
January 20 was an especially clear, powerful impulse from above, a grace from above which corresponded to the Founder’s decision. On January 20, no one in Schoenstatt could see that the whole situation was an open door except for Father with his keen faith in Divine Providence.
He was afraid that he would be misunderstood and thought ungrateful. After all, they had done so much, including things that were not without danger, in order to free him from prison, and he did exactly the opposite.
But when he noticed that they understood and were trying to go along, that they wanted to follow his urging and striving with all their strength for the Inscriptio, then his distress was finished. For him it was new proof that the Holy Spirit was behind it, and that the Mother was at work.
Fr. Dresbach adds a second consideration:
Family. Now when we think of the Family in the Dachau era, it is not only in terms of the little Schoenstatt Family in Dachau and Block 26, but also in terms of the large Schoenstatt Family, to the extent that it was already around the world.
And we already know…. through January 20 and the following time in Dachau the covenant of love greatly matured in all directions and attained an unmistakable culmination in the heart of our Father through his decision of January 20, which he made based on his responsibility for the Family. He decided to accept death, for this was the practical content of his decision to go to Dachau – it was much more likely he would not return alive than survive. He was therefore ready to give up his life for the Family.
(Fr. Dresbach, talk 1978)
REFLECTION 2:
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS
When Father Kentenich returned from Dachau in May 1945, he made this short, but powerful statement about his motives for the decision of January 20, 1942:
“We want to form a new man on the soil of freedom rooted in attachments. You know how often I have spoken about these things.
I know that words have great value, but deeds have an even greater value. I consciously wished not to accept my freedom, but to implore for you the grace to be able to make the right use of your freedom until the end of time.
Fr. Kentenich, Talk 21 May, 1945”
(From: Brushstrokes of a Father, Vol.3, Fr. Jonathan Niehaus, Pp92-93, 94)
PLEASE NOTE: TWO IMPORTANT MESSAGES:
1. NOVENA AS A JUBILEE GIFT FOR OUR SISTERS
By now you will have received a copy of the Novena for January. We hope you will join us in praying this novena in thanksgiving for the work of our Sisters in Australia and the Philippines, and as a Jubilee gift for vocations for their international community. As you will have noted, we are sending the novena out both as a text in the main section of the email, but also as an attachment, so you can print a copy for yourself or to share with others as you wish. You can also find the novena each month on our website: http://www.schoenstatt.org.au You can of course, pray the novena as you wish throughout the month.
2. COVENANT ZOOM GATHERING
For the next few months, the zoom gatherings that take place on the 18th of each month will be held from 7.30pm – 8.30pm. This change of time is a trial only to see if this new time suits people better.
Please also note that for most months there won’t be a text to accompany the video.
The topic for each month will relate to the history of the Sisters in Australia and the Philippines, as presented in the novena for that month.
This means that included with the Zoom link, we will forward a copy of the history as presented in that month’s novena.
In the spirit of the 20th January, 1942, with faith in our Covenant of Love, and a trusting belief in the loving Providence of God, I wish each of you many blessings and graces from the Shrine for this Covenant Day and throughout the coming month.
United in our covenant,
Shirley Hall
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections