During the month of September we celebrate Our Lady’s birthday (Sept. 8), her holy name (Sept. 12), and today we reflect on her Seven Sorrows, which of course also reminds us of the day Schoenstatt’s founder, Father Joseph Kentenich was called into eternity in 1968. Today, we commemorate Schoenstatt’s founding.
As recent “retirees,” our recent pilgrimage to the Original Schoenstatt was special because we didn’t have to work during the free time that was meant for prayer or meditation. I was able to “absorb” more of what our Father and founder, Father Kentenich and our MTA wanted to offer. As one of the Schoenstatt Fathers spoke in his sermon, he said from the Shrine we want to experience the power of the altar. It spoke to me of deepening our Covenant of Love. Our Mother Thrice Admirable gathers us around the table of the altar for Her Son to feed us, nourish us, form us, love us and we do our part as well. My part is that I take my daily struggles, failures, successes, pains, concerns, and everything I have and am both spiritually and physically to the altar in the Covenant of Love. Truly this power of the altar gets me from point to point in my everyday mundane life. It helps me make the dull, boring, menial tasks that are the majority part of my day into something sacred. Sursum Corda. Lift up my heart- during these times so that the power of the altar will transform my life not only for myself but mostly for the sake of others who have to live with me. because it can sometimes be really hard for them to live with me. Again and again, whether I go spiritually or physically to the Schoenstatt Shrine I ask our MTA and Father Kentenich’s intercession to “fill me up with the power of the altar”.
Today, Catholics around the world celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary. It is one of the oldest Marian feasts in Christianity which commemorates that at the end of her earthly pilgrimage, Mary was taken body and soul into heaven. She is – as Pope Francis explained – “the first of the redeemed to arrive in heaven.”
Icons of Our Lady assumed into heaven usually depict her by herself. At times, we see her being lifted up with her gaze longingly directed heavenwards. We may also be familiar with images where Christ picks up her soul, portrayed like a small baby, while the apostles gather around her bier.
The pilgrimage in the footsteps of our father and founder on July 8 made me proud to belong to Schoenstatt. The Corpus Christi Schoenstatt Family outdid itself in organizing every little detail. We were given a booklet with the songs and prayers for the stops on our way. It also included detailed information about Father Kentenich’s visit to Corpus Christi and I look forward to reading it when I get home. It touched me that at each place there was a life-size image of our father welcoming us and a picture of the building as it looked back then. In addition, generous hands provided us with water bottles which were welcomed by all. Last but not least, an exquisite and delicious banquet was waiting for us at the end of the day so typical of our Schoenstatt hospitality. A heartfelt thank you to the Corpus Christi Schoenstatt Family for a richly blessed day: sursum corda!
Greetings from the Confidentia Shrine, On July 8, the day we commemorate Father Kentenich’s ordination to the priesthood in 1910, a group of devoted Schoenstatters gathered at the cathedral of Corpus Christi to make a pilgrimage in the footsteps of our father and founder. Seventy-five years ago, between June 13 and June 19, 1948, FK traveled by car from Subiaco, AR to Corpus Christi, TX. In his book A Visit to America, Father Jonathan Niehaus muses “might they have stopped at one of the Benedictine parishes north of Dallas along the way – Muenster and Lindsay (just west of Gainesville, Texas? They were pretty much on the route south, and given the long, hot journey of over 700 miles to Corpus Christi, the parishes would have offered a convenient stopping point along the way.”
The month of June is the month of the Heart! It is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The heart resembles the core of the person, their love, passion, and life…. Jesus’ and Mary’s hearts are totally surrendered to doing God’s will while on earth and now in heaven! These two hearts in heaven beat for us! They long to unite their hearts with ours. But we know from experience that Our Lord and his mother can offer their hearts to us only to the degree that we are receptive. If our hearts are occupied with self-love, we cannot lift them up to our covenant partners.
“Sursum corda! Lift up your heart! Cast off the chains which bind you to this world of selfishness and despair. Lift up your heart and proclaim the love of God! We are loved! The author of articulation paid the ransom for our unworthiness and gives the joy of heaven to any who are willing to repent and believe. Be free! Lift up your hearts!” (Tim Olson, In: Sursum Corda – Lift Up Your Hearts! 2023, 74)
“Sursum corda! Lift up your heart! Cast off the chains which bind you to this world of selfishness and despair. Lift up your heart and proclaim the love of God! We are loved! The author of articulation paid the ransom for our unworthiness and gives the joy of heaven to any who are willing to repent and believe. Be free! Lift up your hearts!” (Tim Olson, In: Sursum Corda – Lift Up Your Hearts! 2023, 74)
