History » 1934 - 1939 » 1934 Bringing the Hero Sodalists Home » Ave imperatrix Part One
1934 – Bringing the Hero Sodalists Home
Ave, imperatrix!
Part One: The Consecration
A noisy masked procession crossed the stage. A drunk staggered and fell against a wayside shrine. The banner bearer, who at first had stood to one side as he struggled inwardly, now heroically defended the picture of the Blessed Mother. As he knelt before her picture and prayed ‘Blessed among women, I will protect your picture, I will bear your banner”, St Michael’s voice could be heard. ‘Banner bearer you have been called!’ ‘Called? By whom? Where to?’ ‘By your Queen, to Schoenstatt!’ ‘Schoenstatt? Good, I will look for Schoenstatt even if it is at the end of the world!’ Then St Michael is commanded by the Blessed Mother to call one after the other to come to the Holy Grail in Schoenstatt.
„‘Guardian, you have been called!’
‘Young man! Be fire and sword, because you have been called!
‘Pillar, you have been called!’
‘Farmer, seed, listen! You have been called!’
‘Where must I go?’
‘You will be planted in Schoenstatt – God will harvest you!’“
Now those who have been called have to look for Schoestatt and and unite like brothers. The same goal unites them, and each one relates how he has experienced Schoenstatt in his heart.
“‘Schoenstatt is a call that burns in my heart.’
‘Schoenstatt is a call that knows no failure.’
‘Schennstatt is a flame for forging swords.’
‘Schoenstatt is a cathedral into which we are integrated.’
‘Schoenstatt is a river bearing God’s barque.’
‘Schoenstatt is a rock unmoved by the storm.’
‘Schoenstatt is a wellspring whose waters bring eternal youth.’
‘Schoenstatt is a bell resounding through the world.’
‘Schoenstatt is glorious freedom as vast as mountains and skies.’
‘Schoenstatt is a peaceful home in uprooted times.’
‘And Schoenstatt is a banner we carry into the world.’
’ Schoenstatt is a field in which the seed is sown.
It lies there still until it rises from the dead.’”
Although the enemy, dressed like a traveler, tries to present Schoenstatt to them as an idol, a figment of their imagination, they are not diverted from their goal, they follow the call that is burning in their souls, and the find Schoenstatt, and in Schoenstatt the Mother. United as brothers led by priestly hand they mature in the peace and quiet of the cloisters towards their mission.
