Greetings from the Confidentia Shrine,
The month of May finds us in a situation which is not unlike that of the disciples after Jesus’ Ascension. We, too, remain in the room where we are staying (cf. Acts 1:13). As joyful apostles, we unite around the Blessed Mother praying with one accord. During this whole month dedicated to her honor, we prepare for Pentecost on May 31. In this way, each day of May can become a day of grace, a day to live our covenant of love, and a day of Pentecost.
A month ago, on April 15, we united with the international Schoenstatt Family to offer a crown to our Queen of physical and spiritual health. This crown will remain in the original shrine until the end of the pandemic. You can make a virtual visit there by clicking here: https://www.schoenstatt.de/de/livestream-urheiligtum.htm.
We are invited to daily offer our crowns to our Mother and Queen thereby renewing our unconditional trust and childlike surrender to her. In the worldwide crisis not only we, but many Catholics in the whole world are motivated to seek the presence and protection of the Blessed Mother. On May 1, our US bishops consecrated our nation to the Blessed Mother asking her to show herself victorious as Mother of the Church (http://www.usccb.org/about/communications/consecration.cfm).
Meanwhile we have experienced that some TX dioceses have opened the churches again and also begun with inviting parishioners to the celebration of Holy Mass, albeit with certain restrictions. And so, as joyful apostles we stay with the Blessed Mother and draw hope and courage from her. She didn’t just intercede the coming of the Holy Spirit together with the Apostles. She surely also took them into her school, so to speak, during this time of waiting while they were together. They were to become more deeply acquainted with the Risen Lord whom they followed, learn more about him, become open to the working of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become fruitful for the kingdom of God.
We expect the same from her. We gather around her in our little Cenacle. We want to learn from her, we want to be open to the Holy Spirit like her and abandon ourselves to the Good Shepherd as joyful apostles, living the covenant.
With prayers from the Confidentia Shrine,
Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary