Dear Missionaries,

On Thursday, September 10, we will unite across the USA, to commemorate 70 years of the birth of the powerful stream of graces that has reached us through the campaign of the Pilgrim Mother. The program, as you have seen, will include

• Celebration of Holy Mass at noon (central time)
• Documentary about John Pozzobon
• Rosary of Light, in front of the International Shrine of the Father Kingdom, Waukesha.

Regardless of where we are, we are able to open our hearts for the graces which the Blessed Mother wants to give us that day. Just as the God chose John Pozzobon as a special instrument to carry the image of Christ and Mary to countless people in Brazil, God chooses and uses each missionary today to fulfill the same mission. As we prepare for this celebration on September 10, there are two important details to take into consideration.

On the one hand, we should not forget that Sister M. Teresinha was able to entrust the task of visiting the families with the image of the MTA to John because he knew exactly where Mary was needed most. He was very familiar with the people in need and very much aware of who needed to learn to pray, to grow in faith, and to rely on God’s goodness in their great need. Could we not ask John Pozzobon to intercede for us in a special way that we are much more attentive and open to the people in need – not just the need, as though no individual stood behind the need. Unemployment, sickness, and lack of sacraments are circumstances that people can experience as tribulation. But, the person in need is someone who is unemployed, someone who is sick, someone who needs the sacraments. This was what distinguished John Pozzobon. He knew the people, not just their need. The Blessed Mother traveled on his shoulder to reach out to them. Can she travel today, too, on my Facebook, on my bag, on my smile, on a phone call, through so many means at our disposal… and reach out to those in need?

On the other hand, let’s not forget that what John Pozzobon did was a result of the covenant charism of Schoenstatt. When he took the MTA on his shoulder and began to bring her to the families and other places, little by little, he got to know Mary, the shrine, the covenant, the graces, and not least, the founder. There are so many images of Mary that rotate from home to home. There are numberless programs that help people learn to pray and provide spiritual comfort. There are a fair number of Marian shrines around the world, too. But there is only one spirituality that has come about in the last century with a charism of covenant, of establishing a personal bond with Mary, in her shrine, as a means, expression, and security of our baptismal covenant. There is only one founder that has brought to life a movement that focuses on educating the Christian personality through the relationships he or she establishes with heaven and earth, with nature and supernature, that is, with people and God —making one the guarantee for the other. Schoenstatt highlights the teachings of the gospel, for example, about

• Being like children
• Loving God as a father
• Who can be like “my mother” if it is not the ones who do the will of the Father in heaven
• Proving our love for God, whom we cannot see, by loving our neighbor whom we can see.

In doing so, Schoenstatt prepares the ground to make of each one of us a channel of the love of God for other people, so-to-say, points of contact for them. John Pozzobon recognized this very clearly. In fact, he saw to it that all he did remained firmly connected to the main three points of contact in Schoenstatt: the Blessed Mother, the shrine, and Father Kentenich, the founder. Let us also ask John Pozzobon to help us strengthen our love for the three contact points of Schoenstatt. In this way, we know we will be even more fruitful in fulfilling our task as missionaries of the Schoenstatt Pilgrim Mother in the USA.

Congratulations to everyone!

Sr. M. Isabel

Download the Thankgsgiving Liturgy and the Luminous Misteries texts for September 10, 2020