Dear Schoenstatt Families and Friends,
“A man hurrying along a busy street stopped before a church-goods window to stare at
an interesting picture of the Crucifixion. So, absorbed was he that it was several
minutes before he was aware of a small boy standing beside him. The little boy was
looking at the picture with an attention that matched his own.
‘Can you tell me, sonny, what that is all about?’ he asked, seeking to get the boy to talk.
‘Doncha know?’ The boy appeared to marvel at the man’s ignorance. ‘Why that’s Jesus
and those others are Roman soldiers and that is his Mother Mary standing over there
crying, and…’ he hesitated, ‘they killed him.’
With something in him satisfied, the man hurried on down the street. Soon he heard the
pattering of footsteps, and the little boy rushed beside him. ‘But I haven’t told you the
most important part of all yet,’ he said breathlessly. ‘He rose again.’”
(Taken from: Catechism in Stories –
The Creed by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V. D., p. 52)
We know this for we profess it each Sunday at Holy Mass when we pray in the Creed:
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried.
On the third day he rose again. In fulfillment of the Scriptures…
We know the tremendous gift of the Resurrection for as St. Paul tells us:
If Christ has not be raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those
also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life
only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (I Cor. 15: 17 – 19)
That means that if Jesus had not resurrected, our faith would be empty and there would
be no immortality. There would be no life after death in Heaven with Jesus. So, let us
spend this day singing a hymn of thanksgiving for all that Jesus suffered for us to
redeem us, and for his rising from the dead:
Now let the heavens be joyful, and the earth her song begin; The whole world would
keep high triumph and all that is there-in; Let all things in creation their notes of
gladness blend; for Christ the Lord is risen, our joy that has no end. (From song: The Day of Resurrection.)
In our great joy let us “go to the tomb” with the holy women and hear the angel say to
us, as he said to the women on that first Easter -“Go and tell the others!”
Father Kentenich tells us this too:
Go now and tell the others; you will see him. Yes, our country shall see, know and
acknowledge the great God and King again. Go now, you are sent. You have a task.
Go and tell and proclaim to the others by your words. Tell the others by your faithful
love. Tell the others by your divinized being, by your divinized lives. (Father Kentenich, April 1, 1934)
Is this not our call in this year –
Sursum Corda, lift up your Hearts – Become another Christ NOW!
Through the graces of the Resurrection, Jesus would like to mold us into his likeness.
and we will be configured to him if we are able to let his artistic hand form and educate
us masterfully. (Father Kentenich – My Heart, Your Shrine, p.39)
Then our Risen Savior will send us out to bring him anew to our world through our being
– Another Christ. Then whoever encounters us will encounter the Risen Christ and their
hearts will be lifted up to his Father and our Father.
In the joy of living our new motto, I wish each of you a Blessed Easter. May our Risen
Savior richly shower you and your family with his resurrection graces so the words of St.
Paul become true in each of us –
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. (Gal. 2: 20)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Christ will again walk through our world in each of us!
United in the shrine with each of you in Victory joy,
Sr. Marie