31 July 2026 · 2026-07 newsletter
Dear Schoenstatt Family and Friends,
Greetings and blessings on this Covenant Day – 18th July. I hope you are all coping with the winter weather and enjoying the sunshine when it is around.
In our novena this month we focus on the loyalty of those who are part of the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate. We especially remember the Schoenstatt Sisters who have always loyally supported the laity who began this initiative here in Australia, and the loyalty of those Coordinators and members of PMA Circles who take Our Blessed Mother from home to home each month.
From the humble beginnings of this apostolate in Australia, it has grown into a movement across the country and unites many thousands of people with our Blessed Mother, in their own homes, in their workplaces, in hospitals, in schools and wherever our Blessed Mother is invited to visit people where they are at.
This loyalty can be found in Father Kentenich through the example of his great trust in the power of the Blessed Mother to always lead her Schoenstatt Family in all situations. The following words were spoken at the end of the 1951 October Conference. Father Kentenich knew at that time he would be leaving Germany only three days later for Switzerland and then Rome, where the decision would be made that he would spend the coming years in Milwaukee. Aware of the gravity of the moment, Father Kentenich spoke these words of faith and trust and encouragement in this "swan song" leading into uncertain times.
“Truly, the Blessed Mother has always remained faithful to our Family. Over the years she has proven herself unshakable in her loyalty to the covenant of love which she sealed in 1914 with this simple piece of land (the Original Shrine) and with the persons who were present here as our representatives. It is only in this way that we can explain how this unassuming place and these unassuming instruments who represented us all could become such a great and worldwide work.
How often have we recalled the insignificance and inadequacy of the instruments! We are these instruments. We are proud of our smallness, our insignificance. It serves to make the fame of Our Lady shine into the world of today even more brightly and gloriously through our work. ……
How often have we used the image of little David and the giant Goliath. The sling which we take into our hand and have taken into our hand so often in the past, is on the one hand the acknowledgement of our powerlessness and on the other hand the proclamation of our boundless trust in the power, greatness, and kindness of the Blessed among women. From the beginning it has been my personal approach, an approach which has proven itself in every situation, that the greater the battles became, the more naively and unaffectedly I proclaimed the Blessed Mother out of my deep faith in the genuineness, the power, and the fruitfulness of our mutual covenant of love. Loyalty for loyalty! …. We acknowledge once more how helpless we are as a family against the powerful foes. But then a great, genuine, warm emotion pours forth from our souls: Clarifica te! Glorify yourself, yes, glorify yourself, Mother Thrice Admirable and Queen of Schoenstatt, glorify yourself in your work!
"Do not worry about the fulfillment of your desire! Ego diligentes me diligo! I love those who love me!4" That is what Our Lady says to us in the Founding Document…
Fr. J. Kentenich “Schoenstatt’s Instrument Spirituality” 19 October 1951 (Extracts from P.195-201)
Do we have the trust and courage to live in Covenant loyalty with Our Blessed Mother in all situations that we encounter? We pray that the Pilgrim Mother Apostolate will continue to grow and flourish here in Australia.
United in our Covenant: Love for Love, Loyalty for Loyalty.
Shirley Hall
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