18 May 2026 · 2026-05 newsletter
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Blessings and greetings 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 and for being always with us in our daily lives.
After the first four sisters arrived in Australia, their great desire was always to build a Shrine for Our Blessed Mother. As they could not do this in the early years of their mission in Australia, these four sisters decided to spiritually build the foundation of a Shrine by emphasizing the four corner stones on which the Schoenstatt spirituality is based.
- The firm belief in Divine Providence,
- A great, deep love for Mary,
- The inscriptio spirit, and
- Schoenstatt mission consciousness.
The Sisters saw the Shrine as a source of this spirit, and they wanted to allow it to inspire them to radiate Mary into our world by their being and actions.
Through their unity with each other and Father Kentenich in the Covenant of Love, they wanted to share in Mary’s mission for our present times. In 1966 Father Kentenich said:
“The Blessed Mother entered into a Covenant of Love with Schoenstatt. I say: with Schoenstatt as a place, but also with Schoenstatt as a community. In what did this covenant consist of? If I may express it quite simply and understandably, I have to say: She has transferred her mission for our present times to the place Schoenstatt, and to our community at Schoenstatt: She has transferred her mission in an original way.
We have firstly to become aware of precisely what her mission is for our present times. It is a mission that ensures that in the transformation taking place in our times, Christ should be born again through her for the image of the Church at the shores of the newest times.
… So, what does Our Lady want to do by virtue of the Covenant of Love? Through a unique Covenant of Love, she wants to commit herself, she wants to feel obliged to carry out her great mission through her shrine and through the Schoenstatt community, in the changing, in the dreadfully confusing and confused changes taking place in our present times.”
(JK. Address to the Schoenstatt Family, 1 May, 1966)
Blessed Mother……
Let us walk like you through life,
let us mirror you forever,
strong and noble, meek and mild,
peace and love be our endeavour.
Walk in us through our world,
make it ready for the Lord. Amen
We are reminded that on the 19th May 1968, our national Shrine at Mt. Schoenstatt, Mulgoa was blessed and opened. Now in this year of Jubilees, we are proud to have been able to offer as our Jubilee Gift to our Blessed Mother, the naming of our National Shrine. It is now officially our CONSORS PATRIS SHRINE (Helpmate of the Father).
In union with our Blessed Mother Thrice Admirable, may we strive to live our Marian mission in the spirit of Schoenstatt, and in unity with our first founding sisters, through:
A firm belief in Divine Providence,
A great, deep love for Mary,
Living the Inscriptio spirit, and
Conscious of our Schoenstatt Mission.
May our Blessed Mother send you many blessings and graces from the Shrine on this Covenant Day and for the remainder of May, this special month of Mary. I wish you all hope, peace and joy.
United in our covenant,
Shirley Hall
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections