17 December 2020 · 2020-12 newsletter
… and the events leading up to it…
After his exile in Milwaukee, Father Kentenich arrived in Rome on 17th September 1965. On October 22, Pope Paul VI signed the decision of the consistory of Cardinals that effectively dropped all decrees against Fr. Kentenich (this day was exactly 14 years after Fr. Kentenich left Germany in 1951 to go into exile in Milwaukee).
On 22nd December the Holy Father received Father Kentenich in audience. It was a moving moment when Father Kentenich stood upright as ever, in his black soutane and snow-white hair, before the Holy Father. Pope Paul addressed Father Kentenich in a short prepared speech in which he personally expressed his thanks to Fr. Kentenich and confirmed his rehabilitation. Father Kentenich answered in Latin and made the following promise in return: “In the name of the Schoenstatt Family, I heartily thank you for the good works you have lavished on Schoenstatt to an extraordinary degree, but also that you have reinstated me. In gratitude for everything which your Holiness has done, we want to diligently work to help realise the unique mission of the post-conciliar Church for our modern times. And all this under the patronage of the Mother of the Church.”
At the end of the audience Father Kentenich handed the Pope a chalice for the church which the Holy Father intended to build in honour of Mary, the Mother of the Church to commemorate the Council. (The Pope had blessed a foundation stone for this church during the concluding ceremony of the Council on the 8 December).
On December 24th, the eve of the ‘Holy Night’ – Fr. Kentenich returned to Schoenstatt, after being away for 14 years. Because of this date, his return to Germany after the time of exile is sometimes referred to as the “second miracle of the Holy Night.”
As soon as he got out of the car in Schoenstatt, Father Kentenich went first to the Original Shrine. He knelt at the altar rail for the first time in 14 years. Fortunately a photo was taken through the shrine window capturing this moment. The depth and inner calm of father’s gaze, his upright bearing, his hands folded in prayer, expressed what could not be put into words.
During the day word had gone round that the reunion of father with his whole Family would take place at 6pm in the “Marienschule”, the high school conducted by the Sisters of Mary. There was an air of amazement, joy and eager expectancy. Tears of joy filled many eyes. Father Kentenich slowly climbed the steps to reach the microphone.
“Our Lady is giving me the Family once more; it has, of course, always lived in my heart, but she is placing it back in my hands so that I can form and mould it in the way corresponding somewhat to the plans of eternal Truth, and so that I may then pass over into eternity where I shall continue to guide my life-work in a new way.”
By that he meant ‘to contemplate the heart of God, to try to discover God’s plans, to apply them to our own lives, so that, instructed by what we discover, we can see more clearly into the future.’ In saying this, Father Kentenich not only sketched the theme of his talk to his attentive listeners that Christmas Eve but also outlined his program for the coming years.
Some people felt sorry for him, because they saw what an effort it had been for him to climb the steps to the stage; they thought of the weight of his advanced years. When someone told him of this, he replied with a smile, “Oh, that wasn’t old age, my new shoes were to blame, for they pinched my feet.”
At midnight he celebrated the first of the three Masses of Christmas in the original shrine. The ‘Second Miracle of the Holy Night’ which he had often spoken of, that is, the freedom of Schoenstatt’s father and founder, the undoing of his fetters, had become a reality and had occurred exactly on time.
(From: ‘A Father to Many’, Fr. Esteban uriburu)
Filed underNewsletter · Reflections