Mount Schoenstatt
All are welcome for visits to the Shrine:
Weekends: Saturday - Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Weekdays: Monday - Friday 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Hope Religious Store is open on the same schedule for the Shrine.
Sursum Corda – Cor unum in patre
Dear San Antonio´s Schoenstatt family!
A couple of weeks ago, we began the Lenten season. Forty days in which we accompany Jesus on his way to Mount Calvary, to his passion, death, but most importantly to his Resurrection. As it was last year, this will continue to be a Lenten season marked by the war in Ukraine.
Sadly, war continues to overshadow the world and forces us to pray for peace and be peace makers in turn. Peace is built day by day, in a daily effort, starting with our families, neighbors, cities and countries.
Pope Francis invites us on his Lent address: “Lent is certainly the favorable time to return to essentials, to strip ourselves of what weighs us down, to reconcile ourselves with God, to rekindle the fire of the Holy Spirit that dwells hidden among the ashes of our fragile humanity. It is a time of grace, to carry out what the Lord has asked of us, in the first verse of the Word we hear: "Return to me with all your heart".
It is a time to renew our acts of charity: “Let us not get tired of doing good; because if we do not give up, we will reap in due time. Let's do good to everyone." (Gal 6,9-10a). Indeed, goodness is an action, a real and present act, which is developed and exercised day by day.
Francis invites us for this Lent to live the hope that is reaffirmed in the resurrection of Christ. He is the definitive "great hope" that gives the certainty of eternal life and already introduces in the present time the seed of salvation. Faced with the bitter disappointment of so many broken dreams as a result of the pandemic that is not yet completely over; faced with concern for the challenges that concern us, faced with discouragement due to the poverty of our means, we are tempted to lock ourselves in our own individualistic egoism and take refuge in indifference to the suffering of others. God is the one who gives us strength. But the Lord accompanies and lifts up.
I would like to recall here the four ascetic exercises to which, as in Advent, we are invited in Lent: to pray more, fast and abstinence, a to do a good confession and perform works of charity.
First, this is a time of increased prayer. “We need to pray because we need God – says the Pope. To think that we are self-sufficient is a dangerous illusion.” We have experienced our personal and social fragility on so many occasions. Lent is a propitious time to seek comfort in God, without whom we cannot have stability (cf. Is 7,9).
Secondly, Lent is a time of effective charity. Pope Francis invites us to develop the imagination to do good where it is needed. “Let us not get tired of doing good in active charity towards our neighbor. During this Lent let us practice almsgiving, giving with joy (cf. 2 Co 9,7)”. God, "who provides seed to the sower and bread to eat" (2 Co 9,10), provides each of us not only with what we need to survive, but also to be generous to others. We only have this life to do good; the next one will be to give an account of the good done here.
Thirdly, it is a time of fasting and abstention from meat on Fridays. But fasting should not be limited to just "eating less." You can give up the excess of the internet and social networks, not waste time, do a little more sport and take care of your health. Not spending money on unnecessary things.
Finally, I invite you to take advantage of the Lenten season to make a good confession. Penitential liturgies are offered in all parishes, many of them very well prepared, with several priests available for confession, making it quick and easy. An opportunity to purify the soul and "start over" after Easter.
March 25th is the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord. Mary says Yes to the will of God and with this begins the history of salvation for all humanity. We are invited to renew our Yes to God's will and to seek it in everything we do, just as Mary did.
May Mary Most Holy, from our shrine of San Antonio, accompany us on this Lenten journey, a time of renewal and conversion. May the Virgin Mary, in whose bosom she welcomed the Savior and who "kept all these things and meditated on them in her heart" (Lk 2,19), obtain for us the gift of patience, peace and charity. Let us ask the Lord that she remain by our side with her maternal presence, so that this time of conversion may bear fruit of joy, peace, community and eternal salvation.
Let's be closer and more united to the Shrine this time of Lent. I invite you to take part in the masses, rosaries and way of the cross prayers in the Shrine. There are good opportunities to be more united to the Mother of God and to the whole Schoenstatt family of San Antonio.
Please, remember that every first Saturday of the month there is a day of Mother of God devotion. All are welcome to come!
United in the Shrine and in the Covenant of Love,
Father Hugo Tagle
@HugoTagle
Schoenstatt is a Roman Catholic International Movement that strives to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the example and guidance of Blessed Mother Mary. She is at the heart of the movement and is very active in the Schoenstatt shrine, a place, of grace and source of life for our spirituality and work. Schoenstatt is deeply Marian and has repeatedly experienced how this spiritual love opens new avenues to a vibrant relationship with Christ, to the Holy Spirit, to God the Father and to a renewal of love of neighbor and self.
Schoenstatt, a German word for “beautiful place,” is a movement that involves lay people, priests, and religious, with special branches for boys’ and girls’ youth and for the sick. The Schoenstatt Movement offers formation and spirituality in the Catholic faith including monthly group meetings and days of reflection for women, couples and youth serving the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the surrounding areas including Brownsville, Laredo, Del Rio, Victoria, Amarillo and northern Mexico. Schoenstatt serves thousands of visitors to the Cor Unum in Patre shrine, Mount Schoenstatt center and Hope Religious store, located in Helotes, Texas, yearly. In nearby San Antonio, a city Wayside shrine is located on Ave Maria Street. All are open daily through the generous commitment of dozens of volunteers.
Our charism as a community might be summed up with these words: love of Mary, love of the Church, love of the mission of Christ for the world and society.
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