The Experience: The Shrine of all of us

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The Shrine of All of Us

 

In the evening of its dedication, on 8 September 2004, Msgr Peter Wolf said, "It has really become the shrine of all of us." With these words he expressed what over 3000 participants from all over the world, and from every Schoenstatt community, felt that evening. The shrine of all of us.

The shrine of all of us – a statement that had arisen in the months of preparation for the dedication. It was the gift from all of us to Fr Kentenich. It was the gift from all of us to the Church. Our involvement had brought it about and shaped it. It is the property of all of us. It is the responsibility of all of us ...

The many and varied symbols from the different nations, communities and generations that have found their place in and around the shrine show that this really is the shrine of all of us. It shows in the love and the commitment with which the jars were filled and borne into the shrine at the dedication. It shows in the many languages of the prayers and hymns. It shows in the joy we feel on account of "our house in Rome", in which we are not only gladly welcomed guests, but where we are at home. This is not the shrine of a single country, diocese or community. It is the shrine of all of us.

It has remained the shrine of all of us.

It is the shrine of the Italian Schoenstatt Family and the worldwide Movement. It is the shrine of the Pilgrim Mother and the General Presidium. It is the shrine of priests and laypeople. It is the shrine of the torch relay runners, the parishes round about, the young families and their children, the Women's Federation, the Schoenstatt Fathers, the bridal couples. It is the shrine of Australians, Brazilians, Germans, Argentineans, Peruvians and Nigerians...

It is and remains the shrine of all of us.

Placed in "all our" hands. Spiritually, financially, apostolically. It is entrusted to "all of us" for its fruitfulness, its mission and its service.