As we look ahead to a new year, to a new time, we are invited to lead from the shrine with trust in Divine Providence and charity to all.
The uncertainties that we carry over from 2021 to 2022 are the best opportunity to learn to trust in God’s providential care. Father Kentenich’s advice to pray from Heavenwards and learn from its texts the spirit of trust, surrender, and sacrifice are a school for us. On September 7, 1968, Father Kentenich spoke to members of the Schoenstatt Family in Essen, Germany, in this way.
Schoenstatt is not confused by any set-back. It merely trusts in the breakthrough of divine powers, such as faith in Divine Providence has revealed in our family since 1914, and which we have experienced on innumerable occasions, and have been allowed to recognize in unexpected fullness since January 1942 and the Third Founding Document.
Whoever has worked himself into the spirit of Heavenwards will not find it difficult to discover on all its pages the basic features of this universal… and victorious vision of the future. The concept of God and of the human person, the concept of history, society, and of the Church, which it outlines, points expressly to this vision, offers ample material for meditation and study, and can provide effective schooling for the mind, will, and heart of a person that wants to preserve a clear head and sure hand in a chaotic situation. (…)
[The prayers from Heavenwards] … according to the plan of Divine Providence should re-awaken us all, particularly the slowmoving who, guilty or not, have failed to take in what was alive during the past years. It should give us a deep insight into the divine plans for the world, fill us with warmth and readiness to surrender and sacrifice everything for the renewed ordering of the world and society along Christian lines, and inspire us with invincible optimism.
May the year 2022 be a year of much growth in leadership, trust, and service, so that we can truly be able to lead from the shrine with trust in Divine Providence and charity to all.