[Kd1871-covenant-solidarity] at the eve of October 18

[maria fischer]

Dear collaborators and friends of schoenstatt.org,

the experience and the words of the Marian Day in Rome and in the 10 
Shrines of the world still resound in us... as we ponder Francis`s 
prayer-greeting from the night of the rosary and adoration... preceeding 
the consacration of the world to Mary yesterday. In so many places, 
Schoenstatt members joined in... at a wayside shrine in Lima, Peru  as 
well as during an Illuminated rosary with business leaders  in Memhoelz, 
Germany...
Francis greets and challenges all of us with his words:

    /Dear Brothers and Sisters,/

    I greet all the pilgrims present in this Shrine of Divine Love, and
    all those who join us from the Marian shrines of Lourdes, Nazareth,
    Lujan, Vailankanni, Guadalupe, Akita, Nairobi, Benneux, Cze;stochowa
    and Marian Valley.

    This evening I am united to all of you in praying the Holy Rosary
    and in Eucharistic adoration under the gaze of the Virgin Mary.

    Mary's gaze! How important this is! How many things can we say with
    a look! Affection, encouragement, compassion, love, but also
    disapproval, envy, pride and even hatred. Often a look says more
    than words; it says what words do not or dare not say.

    At whom is the Virgin Mary looking? She is looking at each and every
    one of us. And how does she look at us? She looks at us as a Mother,
    with tenderness, mercy and love. That was how she gazed at her Son
    Jesus at all the moments of his life -- joyful, luminous, sorrowful,
    glorious -- as we contemplate in the mysteries of the Holy Rosary,
    simply and lovingly.

    When we are weary, downcast, beset with cares, let us look to Mary,
    let us feel her gaze, which speaks to our heart and says: "Courage,
    my child, I am here to help you!". Our Lady knows us well, she is a
    Mother, she is familiar with our joys and difficulties, our hopes
    and disappointments. When we feel the burden of our failings and our
    sins, let us look to Mary, who speaks to our hearts, saying: "Arise,
    go to my Son Jesus; in him you will find acceptance, mercy and new
    strength for the journey".

    Mary's gaze is not directed towards us alone. At the foot of the
    Cross, when Jesus entrusted to her the Apostle John, and with him
    all of us, in the words: "Woman, here is your son" (/Jn /19:26), the
    gaze of Mary was fixed on Jesus. Mary says to us what she said at
    the wedding feast of Cana: "Do whatever he tells you" (/Jn /2:5).
    Mary points to Jesus, she asks us to bear witness to Jesus, she
    constantly guides us to her Son Jesus, because in him alone do we
    find salvation. He alone can change the water of our loneliness,
    difficulties and sin into the wine of encounter, joy and
    forgiveness. He alone.

    "Blessed is she who believed!" Mary is blessed for her faith in God,
    for her faith, because her heart's gaze was always fixed on God, the
    Son of God whom she bore in her womb and whom she contemplated upon
    the Cross. In the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Mary says to
    us: "Look at my son Jesus, keep your gaze fixed on him, listen to
    him, speak with him. He is gazing at you with love. Do not be
    afraid! He will teach you to follow him and to bear witness to him
    in all that you do, whether great and small, in your family life, at
    work, at times of celebration. He will teach you to go out of
    yourself and to look upon others with love, as he did. He loved you
    and loves you, not with words but with deeds".

    O Mary, let us feel your maternal gaze. Guide us to your Son. May we
    not be Christians "on display", but Christians ready to "get our
    hands dirty" in building, with your Son Jesus, his Kingdom of love,
    joy and peace.


Only a few days are missing for passing from the year of the missionary 
current and the triennium of preparation to the jubilee year, a year of 
intense preparation, like the final days of Advent, awaiting the so much 
longed-for 18^th of October: "It was clearly evident from the various 
countries' contribution that the MTA is inviting us to go on pilgrimage 
to the original shrine on 18 October 2014. All are welcome to 
participate in this pilgrimage. The place and time hold sacramental 
value for us. (Message 2014). A day that the MTA and we long for, but 
also church and world, as we expect "the renewal of the covenant of love 
as an internationally networked creative missionary force (Working 
Document 2014), which bears fruit for others in a variety of missionary 
and apostolic projects, being our gift for the MTA and for Pope Francis, 
in covenant solidarity with him and the New Pentecost he means and 
brings to the church, so our church can serve people and especially 
those who most need it.

The logo of the Crusade of Mary of January 2014 ,this large 
international project of the Men`s Youth, the Missionary Generation , 
summarizes not only the symbols of our jubilee but also all the joy and 
all the commitment :


The tremendous current with hundreds and hundreds of emails , photos, 
prayers , commitments that filled the cavity in the wall of the Original 
Shrine last week to Tuesday , show the real love of our international 
family for the Original Shrine and their commitment, their covenant 
solidarity with this holy place.
In Schoenstatt as in our shrines and wayside shrines, this comingOctober 
18 is prepared with much commitment and anticipation, In Chile, the 
Schoenstatt family consciously prepares a year of grace, in Argentina , 
a simple and profound rite for the renewal of the covenant of love and 
depiction of the jubilee year was prepared, focussed on Covenant Culture 
and supporting Francis, in Brazil a Triduum takes placein the Shrines 
and many wayside shrines and chapels. In Paraguay, at the end of the 
Celebration of the Covenant Day with an estimaded numner of 32,000 
pilgrims, there will be solemn passing through the Portal of the Church 
Mary of the Most Holy Trinity, repeating the act done at the beignning 
of the Holy Year 2000, as a symbol of entering a year of grace. The 
Schoenstatt Family in Uruguay begins the Jubilee Year celebrating 70 
years of the first daughter shrine. In Madrid, Spain, the Jubilee Year 
is opened with Holy Mass and a Night of Adoration.

A missionary from Argentina writes:

Dear Mater , with great joy we are preparing the great festival of the 
beginning of the Jubilee Year , I ask you to accompany us throughout the 
organization , we want to have a nice day , from the ends of the earth 
at our small wayside shrine we spiritually unite the Original Shrine to 
" cross the threshold "...Thank you Blessed Mother ! !


Elsewhere, prayer leaflets with the2014 pilgrimage prayer along with a 
pebble from the Original Shrine was prepared as a gift for all pilgrims 
on October 18 .

*What will happen in your shrines or chapels this October 18 ? If you 
know anything , please send it so we can publish it ahead to create joy 
and anticipation and give inspiration....***

**

**


*Covenant Solidarity:* The simple real jubilee gift of schoenstatt.org 
readers is growing... this weekend, 6 more "houses of solidarity" could 
be built in the slums of Asunción, Paraguay, as part or our project - 
100 houses for 100 years of our house in Schoenstatt - sponsored by the 
Shrines in Puffendorf/Germany; Belmonte/Rome, Italy; Dietershausen, 
Germany; Shrine of the Families, Schoenstatt (donation from 
Switzerland); Horw, Switzerland; REginaberg/Schoenstatt.
Remember... with a donation of 200EUR, a group of volunteers in Asunción 
can give a family that so far lives in ramshackle huts made of plastic 
bags, a roof, walls and ... hope. And we can give Pope Francis a gift 
"on the streets", our grace of having a home transformed in bricks and 
shingles... for the poor.

Greetings, in the name of the schoenstatt.org dreamteam,

maria
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