Greetings from the Confidentia Shrine,

After weeks of lockdown, contact restrictions, with the economy stagnating and going into a tailspin, with sport events being suspended and families struggling to make ends meet, many can no longer tolerate the regulations. We want to lead a normal life again. But the question is whether this normality of everyday life can be the old one or whether it will and must take on a different character.

In a video message on the vigil of Pentecost, Pope Francis describes the coronavirus as one of the great trials of mankind. And he tells us frankly: “If we get out of this pandemic, we won’t be able to go back to the way things were before. No, everything will be different.” He asks that we prepare for a “new reality” in which a more just and equal society is created. Otherwise, the suffering of the past few weeks will have been in vain.

And how do we Schoenstatters get ready? Our year’s motto clearly shows the way. The reality of the covenant of love assures us that no matter what the outcome of the pandemic will be, our MTA will see us through. She also wants to use us as her instruments to be and remain joyful apostles leading many to Schoenstatt. The example of Laura Schuckenbrock can inspire us to be apostolic wherever we are.

We continue praying for you and your intentions in the Confidentia Shrine,

Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary

Nos cum prole pia…

This year’s motto has a deep meaning for me. It gives life and meaning to everything I do. In times of pandemic and social unrest it reminds me of what I am here for, and whose I am.

Who is our source of joy? Is it really God? If God is our joy then nothing or no one can take that away.

I am secured in our father’s love for us.

As joyful apostles and in spite of covid19 we continue fulfilling our mission in North Texas and very specifically at St Gabriel the Archangel in McKinney.

We have been meeting faithfully every Tuesday via zoom and praying the Schoenstatt Rosary, the Prayer in Time of Need to end the pandemic, Hold the Scepter in your hands, and many others prayers.

We have also been doing the Schoenstatt Workshop with Sister M. Emilie called: “Finding my Inner Balance.”

This is a very helpful workshop since it is a program where Father Kentenich helped Sister M. Emilie to overcome fear and anxiety and lead her to the freedom of God’s children, free from compulsions and disorders.

Our times are marked by universal fear, a fear which we will be overcome only through simple, genuine childlikeness. In simple childlikeness there is an overcoming of the world

and an absolute overcoming of self.

Only a child who kno

ws of the Father’s love and might can let go and fall into his hand.  Sister M. Emilie Engel experienced this time and again.  For her, childlikeness did not mean subjection and dependence, but concentrated strength, fearlessness and the deep knowledge, when looking at Christ, the child of the Father, that unless you become like children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. To be a child of the great God in Christ is the greatest gift that the heavenly Father could give us if we make ourselves available to Him.

Now that our Churches are starting to ope

Let us say with her: “Behold the Handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word dear Lord”

n we meet after morning holy Mass by the wayside shrine and pray there.

Early May we decided that it was time to clean up Blessed Mother’s garden as we do every year, and we gave Blessed Mother a beautiful new garden.  It was a team work. I’m very grateful to the volunteers that made this possible.

On Saturday, May 23, the Mothers’ Branch crowned our Mother Thrice Admirable at a new parish in Fort Worth.  The name of the Church is Immaculate Heart of Mary.  It was a beautiful celebration lead by Fr. Oscar Sanchez Olvera.  Blessed Mother was crowned under the title: “Queen of Physical and Spiritual Health” by over 150 parishioners.  Our hearts were filled with joy.  It was wonderful to see so many new faces and so open to receive our heavenly mother’s love.   I was very moved to see the priest so open for Schoenstatt and I learned that he grew up going to the shrine in Querétaro, Mexico as a young boy.  He is a Marian child through and through.

In everything we do we try to be a little handmaid of the Lord and bring joy to others. We are here to serve the Church and world in whatever capacity we can through our apostolic life and through a life of deep prayer in the sacraments.

The greatest sacrifice was asked of us this past Lenten season. It was not easy to not be able to attend daily holy Mass and the sacraments as usual but I could see God’s hand in this. We were ask

ed to sacrifice for a world so deeply in need of God. A world that is thirsting for Him and does not know it.

Our dear Blessed Mother has warned us again and again in her many apparitions.  She continues to call us to pray, do penance and sacrifice.  To turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

To turn away from self-seeking pleasures of the flesh and give our time to God in prayer and good deeds.

We are reminded in sacred scripture that is not those who say Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven….but those who do the will of the Father, Jesus tell us.

From Schoenstatt Blessed Mother Thrice Admirable continues her great visitation in her pilgrim shrine and fulfilling God’s will.

She goes into homes and brings the same graces she brought to her cousin Elizabeth, She doesn’t go alone, and she brings our dear Lord with many gifts and graces.

May we all become more aware of the divine activit

y Blessed Mother wants to do from Schoenstatt and give her a willing ‘yes” to be her instruments, from the smallest things to the greatest.

This year we, the Mothers’ branch in Texas, celebrate 50 years. How proud I am to be a part of this wonderful school of education that Schoenstatt is with Blessed Mother as our teacher.

I also want to thank all those who are part of it. Each of you are an inspiration to me and all of us.

Laura Schuckenbrock

Join us as we renew our covenant of love on this May 18.

Pray with us! Download prayers here: Renewal of the Covenant of Love May 2020

To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Fr. Joseph Kentenich, founder of the Schoenstatt movement and survivor of the Dachau concentration camp, Sr. M. Danielle Peters, Schoenstatt Sister of Mary, and John Larson, MIC, offer an overview of the Mariology of this influential priest.

To get book, got to: https://www.shopmercy.org/mother-thrice-admirable-an-introduction-to-the-mariology-of-fr-joseph-kentenich.html

My husband and I feel very strongly that our vocation and mission are absolutely connected to our family, especially our children and grandchildren. With that in mind, we decided we wanted to bring back the tradition of holy cards.

We both grew up attending Catholic school and had been influenced by the precious bits of paper that were provided to students who did well in both academics and behavior. We proudly received and pressed the cards between pages of books as bookmarks and read the prayers that accompanied the cards, inwardly promising that we, too, would grow up to be “saintly”. They were inspirations that we wanted to pass on to our grandchildren in this day and age of “do whatever feels good.”

And so, when our grandson Richard, snuggled up next to me at McDonalds, I asked him how his week at Kindergarten had been. He had been filled with mischief initially and was struggling to earn the coveted blue star every pupil desired. Red was for the poorest students, then yellow, green, purple, and finally the joyous blue! He smiled up at me and exclaimed with delight that he had finally managed a blue star this week.

We were all so excited and I reached into my purse to take out the holy cards I had brought for him hoping for the good news. After giving one to him of the Blessed Mother along with a few words of encouragement, I secondly presented him with a picture of a Guardian Angel. I told him how God had given each of us a Guardian Angel to watch over us and be with us and help us to be good.

His eyes got very wide when he said, “They’re invisible right?” I was pleased that he seemed to know a few things about angels and replied, “Yes, they are.” – to which he asked, “But will he watch over me even when I’m NOT in the garden?” Inwardly I giggled, thinking garden instead of guardian and even chose a few words to try to explain this to him. But he would have none of it and proclaimed that his garden angel would watch over him when he was in the garden. I smiled, put my hand on his heart and said, “Yes, the garden of your heart too, because that’s where Jesus lives.” He got very quiet, very serious and whispered, “Oooo, OK.”

Kate Otto

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

For more information CLICK HERE

Without the basic cell of society, – the family – Schoenstatt could not exist. Father Kentenich (1885-1968), the founder of Schoenstatt, knew this very well. He was able to work with families already since the 1930s, when the industrial revolution threatened to tear families apart. During his time in Milwaukee he worked tirelessly to build up, educate, and strengthen families through his weekly talks to couples. Through his message and the response of the families, he was able to bring to fruition what he has once written to families from Brazil in 1948….

To read more, go to https://schoenstattwisconsin.org/dedicating-our-home-to-god-and-mary/

Dear Schoenstatt Family,