19 May 2022 · 2022-05 newsletter
20th May 1945 – Father Kentenich returns to Schoenstatt after his time in Dachau.
On Pentecost Sunday, 20th 1945, Father Kentenich returned to Schoenstatt after nearly three and a half years in Dachau concentration camp. Everyone was amazed at how well Father Kentenich appeared after all that he had experienced during his time in the concentration camp.
What had been the secret of Father Kentenich’s daring, stamina and heroic love of neighbour in Dachau? He said that it was the covenant of love with the Mother Thrice Admirable.
Throughout his life he wanted to pass on the experience that “The Blessed Mother placed her motherly heart at my disposal on October 18, 1914. I belong to her. I owe her everything”. Throughout his life this was his secret, his source of strength.
31st May 1949 – Schoenstatt’s Third Milestone
This day marks the 3rd Milestone in Schoenstatt’s history. On 31st May 1949, Father Kentenich once again accepted his mission through Mary, for Schoenstatt and for the Church. On that day, Father Kentenich was at the newly built shrine at Bellavista, Chile. This shrine was still incomplete. That evening he laid on the altar the first part of what has become known as the “Epistola perlonga” (Long letter). This is an important historical document as it mirrors Father Kentenich’s inner attitude as he undertook what he called “a death leap” for himself and his work and which led to fourteen years of exile for him, and brought his work to the verge of being forbidden by the authorities of the Church.
In a talk which he gave to the 20 Schoenstatt Sisters present, he stated his awareness of the risks involved, including to Schoenstatt, but that the danger to Church and world left him no choice but to act. He said:
“Whoever has a mission must fulfil it, even if it leads into the darkest and deepest abyss, even when it requires one death leap after another. A prophet’s mission always includes a prophet’s fate.”
That Fr. Kentenich was willing to risk everything for the wellbeing of the Church signals to us that we too should love the Church, even heroically. His great love for the Church which he demonstrated on 31st May 1949 is a challenge for us to continue his mission and be his witnesses for Schoenstatt and for the Church.
We pray that the spirit of the 31st May will continue to inspire us as a Schoenstatt Family here in Australia so that we too may strive to love the Church as heroically as did Father Kentenich and to live our Australian Schoenstatt mission:
“ONE HEART IN THE FATHER FOR THE FAMILY OF GOD”
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