21 August 2023 · 2023-08 newsletter
Why is the Schoenstatt consecration called a “Covenant of Love”?
We know that from his ninth year, Joseph Kentenich had a deep and lasting devotion to our Blessed Mother. And so, it is not surprising that for Father Kentenich, the Covenant of Love with Mary, the Mother of God, in the shrine became the central charism of Schoenstatt’s spirituality. It is also the charism that Schoenstatt offers to the Church. This covenant is not just a means to an end, but the soul of everything that Schoenstatt is and does. In the Covenant, which is based on our Baptismal Covenant, Our Lady leads us to our final goal: the heavenly Father. She does this through offering us the pilgrims’ graces and by leading us to our father and founder, who has been given to us as a transparency of God the Father.
But how did the term ‘Covenant of Love” come into being and how did the Covenant develop into the Covenant celebrations that are now held across the International Schoenstatt Family on the 18th of each month, or for us here in Australia, on the 3rd Sunday of each month – our Covenant Sunday?
From the very beginning of Schoenstatt, the consecration was always understood as a mutual covenant between Mary and those who consecrated themselves to her in the Shrine. Theologically, it was understood as a specific way of fulfilling the injunction of Our Lord before He died: “Woman, behold your son… [Son,] behold your Mother” (Jn 19,26f).
As a form of Marian consecration, it was in continuity with the consecration of the Marian Sodality (Schoenstatt’s first community form), and until 1944 it was simply called the “consecration” or “MTA-consecration”.
Inquiries from the Diocese of Trier (in which Schoenstatt sits) in the mid-1930s forced Schoenstatt to come to a clearer grasp of what it meant by “consecration”: it is not a contractus bilateralis onerosus (a litigatious contract “forcing” Mary to honour our prayers and sacrifices), but rather as a contractus bilateralis gratuitus, namely a contract entered into by both parties (the MTA and Schoenstatt) freely and out of love.
In 1944, while in Dachau, Fr. Kentenich coined the precise term needed to express this – the covenant of love. “Covenant” was a better word than “contract” for it expresses a more generous spirit and a personal act of self-giving, and “love” made it clear that the foundation was not justice or a false self-righteousness, but truly love. The term “covenant of love” was quickly adopted by Schoenstatt as the official name for its Marian consecration and it has been used as a keyword in Schoenstatt vocabulary ever since.
(200 Questions about Schoenstatt, Fr. J. Niehaus, p.47)
Why do we celebrate the Covenant of Love each month?
In the time following World War II, millions of displaced people streamed from East to West, travelling through Germany on the way. Father Josef Barton, himself a refugee, was given the task of caring for refugees in the so-called “refugee apostolate”.
In 1947 he held the first retreat course for refugees in Schoenstatt. Many of the participants made their covenant of love with the Mother Thrice Admirable, finding in the shrine a home and new strength to bear their heavy cross. During the final discussion, they expressed the need to foster their contact with Schoenstatt. Father Josef Fischer, Movement Leader at that time, suggested making the 18th of every month a “Covenant Day” with a renewal of the covenant of love of 18th October 1914. The idea also came up of having a “Covenant Book” in the shrine with the names of all who had made the covenant with the Mother Thrice Admirable.
This idea was passed on to Fr Kentenich, who immediately gave his agreement in writing. On the next occasion, 18 July 1947, the first “Covenant Mass” was celebrated in the original shrine, and the first pages of the Covenant Book lay on the altar. Fr Kentenich was in South America at the time and passed on the idea. The individual Schoenstatt Centres took up the idea enthusiastically and the monthly renewal of the covenant became a popular feature. ……… As time went by, the Covenant Day united the worldwide Schoenstatt Family every more strongly.
Our founder’s view of the Covenant Day
“It is not enough that our Lady has made this her place, her dwelling. Whoever knows Schoenstatt’s history, will know – as we can read on the altar border – Nothing without you, but also, nothing without us! Unless our Lady can gather a ‘guard of honour’ around herself, that is, men and women who uphold the shrine with their sacrifices, she will not be able to work here in the way we have described. She wants to be our educator; she increasingly wants to implement the education of people and nations.
“We want to bring our sacrifices to the shrine on the 18th of every month. Why should we do this? Our Mother Thrice Admirable and Queen needs our contributions to her capital of grace. She wants what our Saviour wants. He did not want to die only for me, for only one person; he wanted everyone to be saved. Our Lady needs our prayers and sacrifices to accomplish this.”
(Monday Evening Talks, Vol 1, 20.2.1956)
What does this day remind us of? That we form a community united in love with one another and with our Lady. What are we renewing today? We are renewing our exchange of love, hearts, and sacrifices. Not just we do this, our dear Mother Thrice Admirable also does so. She exchanges her heart, her love, and her sacrifices with us. We are renewing our exchange of hearts and love.
We on our part say ‘Yes, Father; yes, Mother’ to this exchange of hearts, love, and sacrifices. Let us not overlook that an exchange of sacrifices is an essential part of this.
We should renew this communion of love and sacrifice with the Mother Thrice Admirable and Queen of Schoenstatt very often. Schoenstatt members all over the world renew their attitude of love and sacrifice on the 18th of every month. They bring our Lady all their sacrifices on the 18th.
We do not come empty-handed to our shrine. Nor do we leave it with empty hands. Our hands are filled with graces. Why do we bring our sacrifices to the shrine? So that they can become a means to sanctify us. We should not ask for this grace for ourselves alone, but also for others, for the whole world. ‘I sanctify myself for them’ (cf Jn 17,19). We bring our sacrifices and place them on the paten on the altar, so that our Lady can save and sanctify souls. We should renew this attitude every 18th for the coming month.
(Monday Evening Talks, vol 1, 18.2.1956)
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