17 June 2024 · 2024-06 newsletter
A New Approach
As we all know, our father and founder wished that we gather together as a family to renew our Covenant of Love with our MTA each month. In the letter to the Australian Schoenstatt Family for the blessing of the Shrine in Kew, Melbourne in 1952, he wrote:
“Everywhere people find their way to her Shrines. However, they do not come with empty hands; they bring rich gifts. 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.”
After some reflection, the NSW Coordinating Team, recognised that the main reason for our family gathering on Covenant Sundays each month is to come together to give thanks for the many blessings of the Covenant in our lives and to bring our contributions to the Capital of Grace. Formation is the responsibility of the different branches of the Movement.
For the past years we have been offering some formation on Covenant Sundays through videos and discussions with participants coming in person or via a Zoom meeting.
Each State has worked out how they want to celebrate the 18th of the month and this will continue to be the case.
However, in NSW we have agreed to trial a different approach to our celebration in the hope that we may be able to help introduce the many pilgrims to our Shrine to the Covenant of Love. In practice this means:
- We will have Mass every Covenant Sunday (3rd Sunday of the month) at 11am as per usual.
- Following Mass we will process together to the Shrine, carrying a Schoenstatt Flag and the Jar from the Shrine with all our contributions to the Capital of Grace.
- In bringing the Jar to the Shrine, we want to emphasise that at the heart of our Covenant of Love is “nothing without you, nothing without us” – that we bring Our Blessed Mother our gifts and sacrifices, and in return, we ask for her help for ourselves or for others.
- At the Shrine we will renew our Covenant and then invite everyone to stay and share a meal (either BYO or a Barbeque)
- We want to use the opportunity after the renewal to speak with pilgrims around the Shrine and encourage them to join in fellowship over lunch with the hope that they will slowly begin to feel ‘part of the family’ so to speak.
You may be asking what happens to the videos and Zoom meetings. Because these are a great help for all those who cannot physically come to the Shrine because of distance or health, we want to continue to offer the video and discussion BUT on the evening of the actual Covenant Day, the 18th of each month. That means from 7- 8pm on Covenant days.
It is intended that this “new approach” will begin for the Covenant Sunday in July. We will trial it till the end of the year and then – after receiving your response to the new initiative – will make a decision whether to continue this way or not.
Sr. M. Elizabeth
On behalf of the NSW Coordinating Team.
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