18 November 2024 · 2024-11 newsletter
The 2024 Australian Schoenstatt Movement National Conference culminated in the finding of the Motto to guide us in the coming year: “ United in the Covenant – Pilgrims of Hope”. In our Conference we opened ourselves up to each other by practicing the Synodal process – deep, respectful and unhurried listening as we came together as the Australian Schoenstatt Family.
There is so much depth and layers of meaning in this motto. As with all mottos the purpose is not conformity but to guide our striving individually in the light of our personal ideal, as a group with our group ideals and discussions, as a branch, as a united Schoenstatt Movement in Australia and with what is happening in the wider Schoenstatt movement, church and world.
Each of us in reflecting on this motto will be touched and challenged in various ways. This can be part of our sharing in the coming year.
I invite you to sit with this motto and discern what it is saying to you. How is it calling you to grow and act as a Christian, how as a Baptised Christian does it challenge me, how as a person united in the Covenant of Love with our Lady – our Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt is it calling me?
As baptised Christians we are all pilgrims, we are journeying through this life, with its joys, sorrows and sufferings, with the hope of being united with God in Heaven, with all the saints and our loved one’s for all eternity, in joy and love. As followers of Christ, we share a unity by being brothers and sisters on this pilgrimage together.
As a Schoenstatt Movement and Family we are journeying together in the spirit of living out our Covenant of Love and in the spirit of our father and founder, Fr. Kentenich. For each of us, whilst we share all these things, being a baptised Christian, being a member of Schoenstatt and living out our Covenant of Love with our MTA and each other, our life experiences, our call to mission (our vocation), will call us to live out this motto differently and that is how we will find its fullness for ourselves, the movement, the church and the world.
The 2025 Jubilee, called by our Holy Father, Pope Francis, was the focus of one of our sessions. What can the Australian Schoenstatt Movement do to participate? How can I participate as a member of my parish? As a member of a Schoenstatt group belonging to a branch?
The first answer to these questions was to participate in Jubilee functions in our parishes, witness to how the Covenant of Love helps me to live my baptismal calling in daily life…
What is a Holy Year? For the Catholic Church and world, it is a special year of Grace. The theme is “Pilgrims of Hope”. The Holy Father has proclaimed 2025 as a year of Jubilee, something which happens every 25 years. We walk as pilgrims of hope towards the Holy Year, because in the rediscovery of our own vocation and by “putting into effect the different gifts of the Spirit, we can be bearers and witnesses of Jesus’ dream: to form a single family, united in the love of God and held together in bonds of charity, sharing and brotherhood" (Pope Francis).
In our National Motto for this year, we state … United in the Covenant. The Schoenstatt Covenant of Love is for us a deepening of our Baptismal Covenant. As Pilgrims of Hope, united in this Covenant of Love, we are united as a movement with the universal church.
Fr. Kentenich called us to love the Church as he did: “Dilexit Ecclesiam”. He called his family to be a positive influence on and within the church and to show our love for the church. Personally, I see the Holy Spirit leading us in growing not only as individuals into our faith but as a movement in being a positive influence in our parishes, in showing our love for the church… Our motto unites us as a movement and with the Church – the Holy Spirit is alive and active when we gather and share with open hearts and minds.
I see the church as maturing over the pontificate of Pope Francis. Our vision and understanding of being Christian and being part of the family of God and members of the world is leading us to maturity. We cannot be Christian in isolation.
If we look at the strength of Pope Francis’ pontificate we see highlights in the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium": “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. As Christians the word of God brings us joy.”
We also see the benefits of Pope Francis’ ponfiticate in his four encyclicals:
2013: Lumen Fidei (‘Light of Faith’);
2015: Laudato Si (‘Praise be to you – on care of our common home’);
2022: Fratelli Tutti (‘On Fraternity and Social Friendship’);
2024: Dilexit Nos (‘On the Human and Divine Love of the sacred Heart of Jesus’ last month).
For me, I see a highlight in what I am called to be: as a Baptised Catholic, to live the gospel joyfully and to lead others to the joy of knowing Christ. To grow in the understanding of my faith, and be able to share the truth with others, to care for our fragile world, both creation and peace with others especially those on the margins, and to open my heart to the mercy offered by Jesus, represented in his Sacred Heart.
I love Schoenstatt, as without the Covenant of Love, I do not think I would fully understand how to live out my Baptism. I love our Lady as my mother and model of being like Christ. She is the one who leads me into a relationship with God, my merciful and loving father.
Some of my musings I wanted to share.
Michelle Davis
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections