Schoenstatt Prayers for the East

Schoenstatt Prayers for the East

Eternal Father, you have sent your beloved Son as Savior of the world and through Him offered salvation to all nations of the earth. You open the fountains of grace in your Church. You also called Schoenstatt to cooperate so that the Mother of God from her Shrine can grant a beginning of new life and unity in the Churches of the East and the West.

With faith your fatherly kindness we present to you our petitions:

- Grant unity and peace to the universal Church and to all mankind.

Response: Through the intercession of the Mother of God, hear our prayer.

- Bless the Holy Father, all Patriarchs, Bishops and Priests, and the whole Church of the East and the West.

- Unite us with the Eastern Churches in the joyful veneration of Mary, ever virgin Mother of God.

- Through the Covenant of Love with Mary, let Schoenstatt contribute effectively to the unity between the Churches of the East and the West.

- Show the International Schoenstatt Movement the way to the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches and grant all Schoenstatt communities graces and vocations for this mission.

- Grant that the future Apostolic World Federation of St. Vincent Pallotti may also include the Christians of the Orient, as it was the wish of Father Kentenich.

- Bless and strengthen all those who work in the spirit of the mission for the East, that Father Kentenich may soon be honored as Saint of Unity through out the universal Church.

- Strengthen those Christians in the East who suffer for the sake of their faith. Awaken our hearts that we may help them continuously with our prayers and deeds of fraternal charity.

- Give to the Christians in the West the readiness to be enriched by the mystical depth and supernatural orientation of the Christian East, and let the salvific mission of the West once again become a blessing for the world.

- Fulfill the desire of Father Kentenich that all minds unite in truth and all hearts become one in love.

Lord our God, your mercy is infinite and your love knows no bounds. Accept these petitions through the hands of our Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt and glorify yourself from all Shrines.

For all honor, all gratitude and all adoration is due to you, most merciful Father, to your all-loving Son, and to the life-giving Holy Spirit, now and always, for all eternity. Amen.


Other Prayers and Suggestions

1. Thursday – Day for the East

Every Thursday, the Eastern Cross is placed in the Original Shrine and in many other Schoenstatt Shrines as a reminder to pray, to offer sacrifices, and to work in the spirit of Schoenstatt’s mission for the East, in memory of Holy Thursday, when Jesus, at the Last Supper, instituted the Holy Eucharist as the sacrament of unity and asked his father „that all may be one“ (Jn. 17:21).

2. Prayers by Father Kentenich for Unity

Grant, o God, that all minds unite in truth and all hearts become one in love.

Let us work towards unity with the Churches of the East so that the sun of peace may shine in the world. Mother, I place this petition into your heart. Take my prayer heavenward to the Father.
(Dachau prayers)

3. Prayers to Jesus and Mary

There is a widespread custom among priests and lay people in the Churches of the East to recite frequently during the day these prayers:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!

Most Holy Mother of God and Blessed Virgin, I greet you!
(We may add: ...greet me also and help the Christians in the East.)

Prayer that Father Kentenich often said while in Dachau:

Mother, greet me!

(He did this, recalling the great things that happened when Our Lady greeted Elizabeth, mother of St. John, the Baptist.)

We may silently say these prayers during the day, even at work, if possible. Thus our daily lives become more related to God and will draw God’s blessing upon us and our fellow-men.

Schoenstatt Prayers for the East are available at the Schoenstatt Center, Waukesha, Wisconsin USA. - With ecclesiastical approval for private use. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 8, 1981.
Rev. Msgr. Sylvester F. Gass, Vicar General.

Dieser Gebetstext und weitere Informationen sind erhältlich beim:
Ostsekretariat Maria Mater Schönstatt, Hillscheider Str. 9, 56179 Vallendar
http://www.schoenstatt-patres.de/grill/ostsekretariat/ostfuerbitten/ostfuerb_eng.htm