THE VISITATION (Luke 1:39-45)
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
WELCOMING THE PILGRIM MOTHER SHRINE
1) GREET Mary and Jesus and WELCOME them as Elizabeth did: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1: 42-43).
2) GIVE Mary and Jesus a PLACE OF HONOR.
3) PRAY the following WELCOMING PRAYER:
“Dear Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen, and Victress of Schoenstatt, you have come on pilgrimage to our home. We welcome you and thank you. Sanctify our home through your presence and your love. The founder of Schoenstatt, Father Joseph Kentenich, has said: Take this picture of Our Lady and give it a place of honor in your homes. In this way they will become little shrines where the picture will be a source of grace, create a holy family land, and form holy family members.”
Mother Thrice Admirable, come and form us into a holy family, into holy men and women. We ask you for all the graces we need to become an example and an instrument in the renewal of the world. We ask you especially for the pilgrimage graces: the grace of being at home, the grace of inner transformation, and the grace of apostolic zeal. Mother and Queen, show yourself to us as our mother and educator. We give ourselves entirely to you. Accept our prayers and our efforts to lead a holy life for the religious and moral renewal of the world from Schoenstatt.”
4) During the visit of the Pilgrim Mother Shrine, ACKNOWLEDGE their presence, VISIT with them, and DIALOGUE with them in prayer. It is suggested that the Rosary be prayed or part of the Rosary or a prayer that is special for the family.
“Before your picture, we now want to pray together for the renewal of family life and thereby the renewal of the world. We also wish to include all our special intentions. If it be in the plan of our loving Father, grant us what we pray for (name your special intentions).”
5) SHARE with your heavenly guests your needs and intentions, your struggles, sorrows and joys and entrust your petitions to Mary’s care.
6) THANK Mary for her intercession with Jesus for you and all you have prayed for.
7) OFFER Mary a contribution (a prayer, a good deed, a joy, a suffering, a struggle, a sorrow, a confession of fault, failure, or sin) to her Capital of Grace for the success of her Schoenstatt Mission and in thanksgiving for her motherly intercession for you and your intentions.
MEDITATION AND A SHRINE EXPERIENCE
MARY’S PICTURE OF GRACE IN ITS PLACE OF HONOR creates a CORNER OF HEAVEN in our home where we are drawn to the Blessed Mother and Jesus in a very special way. In this place, there is a loving, tender, and understanding Mother who will listen to us and support us. There is Christ who, out of His love for us, delivers us from the bonds of sin and sets us free. It is an OASIS OF PEACE where we can let go of our anxieties and fears. It is a place where we can be ourselves, feel accepted, loved, forgiven, have a greater sense of self-worth. It is a place where we feel safe, sheltered, and are able to share ideas and longings with kind and understanding Hearts. It is a place where we can form a lasting bond of love with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. This is Mary’s gift to us in return for the HOSPITALITY we show to her and her Son each time we welcome her PICTURE OF GRACE into our home and give it a PLACE OF HONOR.
A SHRINE EXPERIENCE:
1) Experience feeling at home with your guests in the PLACE OF HONOR you provided for them.
2) Let yourself be drawn to this corner of heaven and oasis of peace.
3) Practice letting go of your anxieties and fears here.
4) Here in this PLACE OF HONOR, let yourself feel safe, sheltered, accepted, and loved, a place where you are able to share ideas and longings with kind and understanding Hearts.
5) Let yourself begin to form a bond of love with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary through prayer, through an exchange of thoughts and ideas from meditations on Scripture or other spiritual reading, or from your daily life.
DEAR BLESSED MOTHER THRICE ADMIRABLE, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt and Queen of the Three Graces on the Move, visit us your children. Walk among us, comfort us, care for us, and heal our hearts with your motherly love. Bring Jesus into our homes our Domestic Church, into the homes of our dear ones who are sick, into our hospitals and nursing homes, everywhere where you and Jesus are needed. Distribute your gifts, graces, and favors to warm our cold hearts, to renew us in our faith, and to deepen our personal love for Jesus your Son. With the Three Pilgrimage Graces of the Shrine, educate us and form us into the New Persons in the New Community of which our father and founder, Father Joseph Kentenich, spoke about. Intercede for us that the wide halls of the holy Church be filled again to the praise and glory of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen. My Queen, My Mother, I give myself entirely to you, and to show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my heart, my entire self without reserve. As I am your own my good Mother, guard me and defend me as your property and possession. Amen.