The First Covenant Celebration in 2025 at
the Schoenstatt-Au in Borken, Germany
“A wonderful evening. A ray of hope in all the confusion today! The hope was palpable …”
What moved Mrs. M. was expressed in a similar way by other people at this first covenant evening in the New Year. After all, this eighteenth of January was not just in any year, but in the Holy Year 2025 that Pope Francis opened in Rome on Holy Eve 2024. Moreover, “as pilgrims of hope”, we did not come to any place but to the
Schoenstatt Shrine in Borken, one of four churches selected in the Diocese of Muenster
to be a place of holy year graces.¹
We began with Holy Mass in the Annunciation Church which still had its Christmas decorations. In the front, symbols pointed to current circumstances and concerns of the evening. Festive sounds of trumpet and organ, performed by Thomas Weddeling and Stephan Lemanski, accompanied the entrance to a dignified Holy Year liturgy. The new Mass texts for the Holy Year were used for the first time, a praise to the Son of God, to “Christ, the only and true hope that surpasses every expectation and enlightens all times.” A polyphonic choir resounded with joy and gratitude:
“Son of God! In the holy year, we come full of trust
To you, the Hope of the World, whom we look at in faith.
You open your door to all who seek you as pilgrims of new hope.
Mary extends her motherly hand to guide us safely;
We always walk with hope on our pilgrimage.
Consecrated to her in the covenant of love,
We make ourselves ready as signs of “light and hope” for people.
(Text: Schoenstatt-Au, Borken)
In his sermon, Father Christoph Hendrix drew a line from the external preparations for the Holy Year in Rome to what should touch and motivate us anew on the inside when he explained:
Rome made itself beautiful for the Holy Year. Everything possible was cleaned and polished, restored and made to radiate. (…) What has happened to the stones of the churches and monuments in Rome can and should also happen to the human stones of the Church, to each and every one of us:
that we begin to shine in new splendor!
As baptized people, we have every reason to shine in new splendor, because we are journeying with the inextinguishable hope that God loves us. We should make this hope shine anew in our hearts, radiate it in a captivating way, and pass it on to everyone we meet–no matter where–whether on the street, in a church or when shopping in a supermarket.
Mr. B. put his emotions into words, expressing a hope that many of those present shared with him, “God loves us! If only many people could hear that, believe it, and be happy again!”
With the festive music, the faith-filled and joyful praying and singing, it was not difficult to revive the hope we carry in our hearts. In the prayer of the faithful–with words from Pope Francis’ Jubilee Letter– we called down this hope on our world in all its distress.
At the beginning of the procession to the shrine, Father Hendrix distributed meaningful symbols to take along. Sent out and blessed, accompanied by the hymn for the Holy Year, we set off for the shrine full of hope.
- Processing with the pilgrim’s staff and the logo of the Holy Year, we prayed for our diocese.
- Processing with baskets full of starry notes, we prayed for all those who came to the Christmas crib and wrote down their intentions.
- Processing with the filled jar from the shrine, we brought our contributions and gifts to the Blessed Mother and prayed that the spiritual oases will become sources of new hope.
- Processing with lights, we prayed that those in need in all parts of the world will see a light through the darkness.
Finally, we surrounded the shrine in a wide semicircle, renewed our covenant of love with the Blessed Mother and placed ourselves at her disposal anew as collaborators in her mission. As “pilgrims of hope,” newly inspired and motivated, we sang all the verses of our familiar Schoenstatt hymn: “Protect us with your mantle, Lady of Victory … In storms you remain in view … We trust and believe in our mission, in storms we will set our sail; the ages will see you conquer. With you we shall never fail!”
In the meantime, the helpers had their hands full feeding the abundance of jar mail and starry notes into the flames. The fire was a bright glow in the darkness of the evening, a warming fire in the cold of the approaching night, a sign, as it were of a profound confirmation of our conviction that those who make a faithful pilgrimage to the shrine, who consecrate themselves to Mary and place themselves at her disposal, who entrust themselves and their concerns to the Blessed Mother, will be led by her to Christ, the true “light of hope” who outshines darkness and cold and will never be extinguished.
“How good that we came tonight,” said one couple. ”Everything was just right: the sermon, the music, the praying and singing, the whole atmosphere. It was a wonderful evening. Thank you for everything!”
A sick woman who really wanted to be at this celebration and was completely exhausted afterwards expressed her feelings: “Something came over me and passed into my heart. That did me good. I can go home with new hope. Thank you all very much.”
And Mr. 0. later sent an E-mail: “THANK YOU for letting me be there …”
What remains for us to do is to thank God and the Blessed Mother for the blessings received and to heed their call to:
Begin to shine in new splendor.
Allow the love of God to penetrate your heart anew and make it radiate; commit yourself to words and deeds of love so that Pope Francis’ wish for this Holy Year is fulfilled more and more: