[covenant-greetings] Blessed Covenant Day - from the schoenstatt.org team
Covenant Greetings
kd1645-covenant-greetings at mail.mchosting.eu
Sat Feb 18 10:06:07 CET 2012
Dear friends and collaborators of schoenstatt.org,
Blessed Covenant Day! Once again, as the worldwide Schoenstatt
Family,we celebrate the 18^th , celebrating our Covenant of Love,
united from Shrine to Shrine, from heart to heart, united in our great
jubilee pilgrimage towards the jubilee of the Covenant of Love.
ONLY 972 days 14 hours and 8 minutes from OCTOBER 18, 2014!
We can unite to the Original Shrine today via the video of the Holy Mass
celebrated there this morning - The Holy Mass towards 2014, in Covenant
with Ruanda - available soon at www.schoenstatt-tv.de
With much joy, we forward to all of you the latest official
2014-newsletter which we regard the best Covenant Greeting to share at
this moment of our pilgrimage. You find it also at schoenstatt.org.
Subscribe to the newsletter 2014
<http://www.schoenstatt2014.org/en/mailing-list/>
Towards 2014
February 2012 - Number 3
We always remain with the same, central mystery: Our entire pilgrimage,
our whole procession, always centres on the divine.
/JK, Rome Conferences 1965 /
Editorial
Dear Pilgrims
as we journey on together I want to look back and to look forward.
Since the last newsletter much has happened. many of you will have heard
of the passing of Fr. Jonathan Niehaus, a Schoenstatt Father from the
United States - a man who was remembered for his love of our Founder and
the wish to pass that message and vision on to the whole world, a
thought central to our ongoing pilgrimage and Jubilee.
Closely following this event I was able to move in to the Bundesheim
(House of the Covenant) where the offices of Team 2014 and the working
teams are taking shape. Phones, computers, but above all the teams are
beginning to occupy the space that will be the place of our pilgrimage
towards 2014. It was great to gather those who were around, and there
were quite a few, for a little celebration - a birthday to remember.
It was in those offices that a number of meetings took place. At the end
of this month our website will see a small transformation as by then we
can bring you those "hard facts" that you want for you preparation.
Negotiations with those involved in transport, the celebration, catering
etc... have advance so far now that over the next 3 months packages,
prices and more can be published... Oh, and by the way, you will soon be
able to book your trip online... Exciting...
We would like to invite you to pass this Newsletter to all those you
know who journey with us towards 2014. Invite them to subscribe:
To subscribe - click here
<http://www.schoenstatt2014.org/en/mailing-list/%20>
/Fr. Andrew Pastore/
With every step we take on our pilgrim way
The Cardinals of our Church are meeting today, 17 February, in the new
Synod Hall in the Vatican for a day of prayer and reflection on the
subject of "the proclamation of the Gospel today, between /Missio ad
gentes/ (Mission to all people) and new evangelisation". At the same
time we are receiving the third of our information and motivational
newsletters for our great "pilgrimage to the Original Shrine on 18
October 2014, which is open to all", as the Message 2014 stated, because
we know that "places and times have the character of sacramentals" for
us. It is an open pilgrimage, a pilgrimage for everyone, which will lead
us afterwards to Rome, to the "heart of the Church, in order to renew
our commitment to her and to emphasise our missionary character." As a
missionary Family we are on pilgrimage to the Original Shrine and to
Rome, in order to bear our covenant of love into the world of work, of
politics, the family, youth, the Church and pedagogy, and in this way
create a covenant culture as a practical contribution to the new
evangelisation of the world in which we live.
"For missionary activity renews the Church, revitalizes faith and
Christian identity, and offers fresh enthusiasm and new incentive.
/Faith is strengthened when it is given to others!/ It is in commitment
to the Church's universal mission that the new evangelization of
Christian peoples will find inspiration and support." This passage from
the Encyclical letter /Redemptoris Missio/ by John Paul II -- the
masterly document on the new evangelization that has stood the test of
time -- characterises the meaning of our pilgrimage 2014 extremely well.
The covenant of love, the fruit of our baptismal covenant, is
strengthened and renewed ... if we pass it on! It is in this spirit we
walk our pilgrim way with élan, motivated by our desire to meet as a
missionary family at the jubilee. "There are four of us in our family,
my two girls Danna and Ariane, my husband Rodrigo and I," writes Yeni S,
a young mother from Comodoro Rivadavia in the Argentine. "Ever since we
got to know the Movement, and visited the shrine in Santa Maria in 2010,
when my youngest was only 23 days old and we dedicated her to the MTA,
our longing has grown to be in Schoenstatt in 2014. We would like to
place this intention with the thousands of prayers that are sent to the
Original Shrine from all the shrines in the world. Let us meet there at
the jubilee ..."
Yes, our pilgrimage to 2014 is progressing decisively and grows in
strength "with every step on our pilgrim way": with everyone who joins
us in the attitude of pilgrimage; with every step of a pilgrim,
community or country "towards 2014"; it grows in strength with every
project that is started or continued, as for example, the "Mission to
Nigeria" of the students in Chile, with every pilgrimage prayer either
in a shrine or at a simple wayside shrine somewhere in the world, with
every Holy Mass in covenant with a country, with every Pilgrim Mother
carried into a new home, with every translation "with which I work for
every kilometre to the Original Shrine", as one of our collaborators in
Chile wrote recently. It grows in strength with each original
initiative, such as that of the Portuguese cyclists who are cycling the
kilometres to the Original Shrine as they visit Portugal's Marian places
of pilgrimage.
It grows in strength /for everyone/ through the formative power of the
covenant of love in /one /person, in /one/ initiative, /one/ community
-- and it grows in strength for each individual person who has to take a
particularly difficult step in the strength of the steps taken by
others, as our Holy Father has emphasised in his message for Lent:
"The Lord's disciples, united with him through the Eucharist, live in a
fellowship that binds them one to another as members of a single body.
This means that the other is part of me, and that his or her life, his
or her salvation, concern my own life and salvation. Here we touch upon
a profound aspect of communion: our existence is related to that of
others, for better or for worse. Both our sins and our acts of love have
a social dimension. ... Christians can also express their membership in
the one body which is the Church through concrete concern for the
poorest of the poor. Concern for one another likewise means
acknowledging the good that the Lord is doing in others and giving
thanks for the wonders of grace that Almighty God in his goodness
continuously accomplishes in his children."
The recent comment of a young woman in Germany fits in with this, "I
notice time and again that 2014 becomes a reality wherever we are, or it
simply doesn't exist. The vital principle 2014! So it is at the same
time a total challenge!"
The pilgrimage to 2014 gains in strength for each of us and for the
whole Family with every contribution with which we fill the jars, "with
gratitude and repentance, with love and longing." A simple, sincere
testimony found among the petitions that arrive at the Original Shrine
week after week via the internet gave me particular joy, "Blessed
Mother, the joy that I can give you with my little request brings me to
your shrine, which I have already visited twice. THANK YOU!"
The three questions that are part of our pilgrimage prayer ground us and
make the great ideas and visions very personal as they motivate us on
our way to 2014.
* For what do I want to thank?
* What will I place in the jar today?
* Which missionary steps will I take today?
The answers are to be found in the covenant lives of the pilgrims,
whether they are individuals or communities. The answers -- concrete,
topical and real -- are the content and decisive power of each "real
step" we take to reach the shrine and meet with the worldwide,
missionary Church.
The steps of our Jubilee pilgrimage can be steps through darkness,
suffering and human powerlessness -- both personal and communal -- yet
in the power of the covenant of love, and the grace of 2014, they are
the steps taken during a common pilgrimage, steps -- and that is the
light of Easter on any and every darkness along our way -- with Jesus
Christ in the serious and hopeful climate of the pilgrimage that make
them testimonies of faith at every moment. The pilgrim who sets out for
the shrine is accompanied in the communion of faith and love not only by
the others with whom he or she undertakes the "pilgrimage" (cf. Ps
84,6), but also by the Lord himself, who goes with us as he did with the
disciples on the way to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24, 13-55).
/With best wishes and my blessing from the shrine/
/Fr José María García/
What's
* Update Coming
o From 26th February our website will be in three sections -
Preparation, Celebration and Information. There will be a one
stop download section as well as a new look Q&A and the
possibility to accesses previous newsletters.
* News <http://www.spiegel.de>
o Up to date news from schoenstatt.org <http://schoenstatt.org>
o http://www.schoenstatt.org/en/schoenstatt-news/2014-news.htm
The Father Symbol is on pilgrimage in Argentina -- and was present at
the 60th anniversary of the Father Shrine and the 10th anniversary of
the blessing of the Father Statue in Florencio Varela (where it had also
been present 10 years ago!).
The Schoenstatt Family of Chile is conquering the kilometers that are
separating their Shrines from the Original Shrine
http://www.schoenstatt.org/en/news/788/163/From-the-Telescope-Mama-there-s-a-Shrine.htm
Have a look at this website of the Institute of Diocesan Priests where
you can see the Jubilee taking shape - click here
_http://www.mta-schoenstatt.de/_
Brazil is singing: "Towards the centennial of the Covenant of Love"
during all the pilgrimages to the Shrines... Many Bishops already sing
along as they hear it so often!
Do you know the Cyclists of Our Lady of Schoenstatt? Some Schoenstatt
members from the Shrine in Aveiro, Portugal, are pedalling towards 2014
-- they want to cover the 2,600 km that separate their Shrine from the
Original Shrine with bike pilgrimages to Marian Shrines in Portugal:
http://www.schoenstatt.org/en/news/858/163/Cycling-Towards-2014.htm
Published by
*Fr. Andrew Pastore*
Schoenstatt International Communication Office 2014
Pater-Josef-Kentenich-Str.1
56179 Vallendar
Deutschland
*E-Mail:* info at schoenstatt2014.org <mailto:info at schoenstatt2014.org>
*Web:* www.schoenstatt2014.org
<../../Nesletter%20index%20pages/www.schoenstatt2014.org>
Contacts
*P. José Maria Garcia*
pjm.garcia at schoenstatt2014.org <mailto:pjm.garcia at schoenstatt2014.org>
*Schw. M. Luciane Machens*
M.Luciane at schoenstatt2014.org <mailto:M.Luciane at schoenstatt2014.org>
*Fr. Amdrew Pastore*
fr.andrew at schoenstatt2014.org <mailto:fr.andrew at schoenstatt2014.org>
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