In this jubilee Year of Mercy we crowned our Auxiliary Images of the Pilgrim Mother. These images come from Louisiana, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Georgia, New York, Wisconsin and even Canada.
A weekend of great blessings and very intense discussions had it climax in this simple and most profound crowning ceremony which took place on Saturday evening during the solemn celebration of Holy Mass.
The images were crowned under the title of: Queen of the Three Graces on the Move.
This title is most fitting for this Year of Mercy, given the fact that the three pilgrimage graces which we receive in the Schoenstatt Shrines through the hands of the Blessed Mother correspond to God’s mercy to us. The graces are: the grace of being at home, which allows to grow in childlikeness before God as a father; the grace of inner transformation, for God does not want to leave us in our misery, through Mary’s love and example we are transformed; and of apostolic fruitfulness, so that we can share with many others the mercies we have received.
In view of the many persecuted Christians around the world, and not the least the subtle persecution we experience here in our land, we crowned the Blessed Mother in these ten images, asking her to intercede on our behalf. Being that our greatest petition, we also trust that Mary will continue to intercede that we may become, like her, bearers of the image of Christ into our world and time. We need special graces for that! We need to discover how to really go about it in these changing times. But, our Queen will continue to see to it that we harvest rich fruits of these graces in our lives and in our apostolate across the USA.
On Saturday, October 22, 2016,
every missionary, who coordinates the rotation of one or more images, of the Pilgrim Mother of Schoenstatt
is invited to crown his or her image as Queen of the Three Graces on the Move.
This crowning ceremony will take place all across the USA. Close to 10,000 of these images circulate among families, students, elderly people, religious, inmates, and home-bound. The persons responsible for the particular images are invited to crown their individual images with the prayers attached. They may add other things, too.
We have missionaries in California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho; in Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona; in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. We also have in New York, New Jersey, and the DC area. We have here in Midwest and as far north as Canada.
If you click on the photo you will be able to see the celebration. Through this coronation we are asking the Blessed Mother to intercede for us in a special way. Our two main intentions are: for the bluntly persecuted Christians around the world and those subtly persecuted here in the USA, and for our country in the coming weeks. Needless to say, the prayer in preparation for this event is the Rosary and the sign of our confidence in the Mother of God is a small crown – nothing complicated!
Since the Mother of God dwells in the Schoenstatt Shrines interceding for the Christian soul three very special graces, we are expecting those three graces in an intense manner as a fruit of this crowning: the grace of being at home in the heart of God, the grace to be transformed into living images of Christ, and the grace to be sent out into the world like the apostles, as missionaries, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that is, into the greatly challenging realities we all face here and now.
The secret behind it are these graces of the Schoenstatt Shrine. Since these images have been sent and blessed in a Schoenstatt Shrine, we trust that the same graces will flow with intensity into our country in connection to this simple act. Of course, everyone is invited to visit those Shrines across the USA and implore our Heavenly Mother to protect us and to educate us into living images of Christ. We have such chapels in Wisconsin (4), in Texas (3), in New York, in Florida, in Nebraska, and in the Caribbean.
Some are coming together to do this crowning as groups, as families, as friends, or some are doing all by themselves in their apartments, parishes, or home. No one will miss it. If you have your image with you, your crown, and your text as provided, you are set! The time is now, in the year of mercy! The month is October, the day is the 22nd, and the time is when you are able to do so. Some are even doing it a day or two sooner or later. That is fine, too. We just want to pull on the mantle of our Heavenly Mother and tell her: “Forget-us-not, and take care of her children!”
