19 October 2021 · 2021-10 newsletter
WITNESS . MISSION . PRAYER
A great opportunity was taken for a Schoenstatt Family weekend with the theme ‘Witness, Mission and Prayer’ on WA’s long weekend from Saturday 25th to Monday 27th September.
Attended by 17 adults and 2 children, with several Schoenstatt family members coming for only a day throughout the weekend, we gathered at the Vincentian Retreat Centre at Karrakup, conveniently around 15 minutes away from our Shrine at Mount Richon.
Sr M Elizabeth presented our first session on ‘Evangelization – Schoenstatt’s Way’ via Zoom, followed by ‘Prayer and Witness’ presented by Philomena Theseira. That afternoon we travelled to the Shrine for a time of hymns and prayers to our MTA. After a shared ‘potluck dinner’ everyone joined in a Quiz Night, with some winning bottles of wine.
Ida Stokes gave a morning presentation on Sunday, on ‘Witness, Mission, Prayer – A Letter from Pope Francis to the Schoenstatt Youth’. After a group rosary, Fr Joseph Rathnaraj from Maida Vale Parish celebrated Mass for us. During the afternoon we viewed the film ‘Seed of a New World’ followed by a craft activity where one could make a miniature Shrine to take home. The evening barbeque dinner was followed by a Games Night where the two teams – the Gregorian Tigers and the Sausage Sizzlers – battled to win amid much joy and laughter.
On Monday, Sr M Elizabeth once more presented our final session via Zoom on ‘Sharing in the Mission of Christ and Our Lady’. This was a Schoenstatt study session with opportunities to share our perspective on our father texts where we could enrich one another.
After enjoying plenty of food and having a great time, we not only gained new perspectives, but also enjoyed one another as a family. And the ones who came for the first time are now eager to know more about Schoenstatt.
What did the participants get out of the weekend?
- In a word, the weekend was ‘remembrance’ that is, remembering how the Original Shrine and the Shrine came about, and the importance of being open to co-operate with Our Lady in her mission.
- We need more weekends like this as we relaxed, learnt and had fun.
- One of the new couple participants said: Thank you for working so hard to give us such an enlightening experience. We enjoyed ourselves and came home feeling energised.
- As the internet was not available here, we had a good break, free from distractions.
- I realize that personal reflection is important to become good evangelists. And to learn to keep the evangelisation simple, for example love for my family members is evangelisation.
- I became conscious of more contributions to the capital of grace, that is through our self-education, inviting Our Lady to direct the graces of the Shrine to those in need.
- I enjoyed our study session, that is reading father’s words and yet we are all involved. It was also nice to simply come together.
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