Greetings from the Confidentia Shrine,
“And the Heavens burst into song;
the angels with joy sang along.
Creation was silent with awe
for God had called you home!”
This refrain of a popular Schoenstatt Song invites us to join today’s celebration of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother into heaven. What happened on that day? And how is Mary’s Assumption different from any other saint in heaven?
Already in 1941, long before the solemn proclamation of the dogma on November 1, 1950, Father Kentenich explained that in her, who is in heaven with body and soul, we honor the only human being with a totally integrated and redeemed personality, the ideal of the fully redeemed person. Schoenstatt’s founder emphasized that Mary’s Assumption into heaven teaches us the meaning and aim of our human existence. Our Lady is the exemplar for all of humanity because of her faithful and generous cooperation with grace throughout her earthly pilgrimage.
Applied to our year’s motto, Mary of Nazareth led herself be completely guided by trust in Divine Providence: from the Annunciation to Bethlehem, Egypt, and all the way to Golgotha she never turned her back on God’s will. Her life became fruitful by bringing Charity personified, Christ our Lord, to All!
”What does the dogma of the …bodily assumption of the Mother of God into heaven tell us?” Father Kentenich directed this question to the leaders of the Schoenstatt Family in October 1950, two weeks before the solemn proclamation of the dogma. Here is his answer which we may want to ponder these days: “Each body … is intended and called by God to bear Christ; each body is intended and called by God to once participate like … the Mother of God … in the glory of heaven. Obviously … these truths are threatened to such a degree nowadays that God had to apply the means of a dogma.”
We have made a covenant of love with her who is our Mother and Queen. In gratitude for this singular gift, we sisters will sing the fifth verse of the above mentioned song and ask you to sing along:
“In Schoenstatt you live in our small paradise;
it’s heaven to be with you in the shrine.
Our longing for heaven increases much more
since that is what God has created us for.”
Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary