Autumn/Winter Senses @

Schoenstatt Scotland

There are still hundred of individuals coming to the Shrine on a regular basis and this will
drop o significantly in December. These individuals come either as regular visitors who
have been coming in some cases for years, new visitors, the numbers here are growing
significantly, and individuals who have attended a retreat at Schoenstatt Scotland over the
last years who now wish to return whenever they can. Locals in the area are always
popping in for a coee and to visit the Shrine. The repository shop has been very busy
selling items for Advent and Christmas, including cards. The Shrine is open 356 days a
year.

The light during the day feels dierent, cooler and cleaner, and is excellent for photography.
There is more richness of gold carpeting the earth to be viewed in this season than in any
other. The estate can look stunning, but it is an immense task for our hardy gardener.
Some of the best times to visit during this season are in the early morning and in the early
evening, when the birds are at their most vocal and varied. Tess our Collie is still out and

Rest in the still

peace and calm
of Schoenstatt
Scotland, with
its leafy quilt to
wander and
ponder, and its
Shrine to enfold
and refresh us.
Retreat Director

about during the day, but slower than she was, as she is an elderly puppy now at over 10
years of age. Other visitors to the seventeen acre estate, are many flocks of geese which
fly past, and several wakes of buzzards. We often get visits from the local foxes, deer and
rabbits, especially in the early morning and evenings, and there are numerous murders of
crows, and several brace of ducks in the river, but also the less usual; some gorgeous
guinea fowl that busy themselves on the grass behind the Shrine, and a sizeable cockerel
from a neighbouring estate. The pheasants are still in great voice as they stride across the
grass throughout the day and can actually be heard from a mile distant, their call a sure
sign you are in the country and instantly recognisable once you have heard it. In the
evening there is also a colony of bats that like to fly around the belfry of the Shrine. This is
definitely a season for warm comfy sweaters and scarves, gloves and hats, but being out in
its beauty and perfect stillness, reminds us we are awaiting a special coming, new life, and
a perfect opportunity for new beginnings, for starting afresh, for reinvigoration and for new
growth. Those who are staying with us in this period enjoy marvellous hot chocolate
beverages either before they set out or upon their return, for Schoenstatt is a complete act
of kindness to themselves. We often have priests on retreat in this period. In midDecember the Retreat House will close oering the sisters some respite from their hectic
year. However, the grounds, the Shrine and St Josephs remain open.

We are also soon to be in the season of Advent, from the Latin, Advents signifying coming.
From this celebrated season of peace and stillness new meaning can enter our lives. This
new meaning is the imminent coming of Christ Jesus. It is a season to get in touch with our
longing. The wonderful hues of gold, auburn and red that quilt the ground just now speak of
desire. Our longing, as Christians is for God, for that longing shapes the soul.

In this special season let us create the space where deep within us, Christ can be born and
nurtured. For our longing here takes us to the manger in Bethlehem, where the light of the
world came upon us, born in the stillness of a cool night, with his own star blazing above
him, and we are bid to come let us adore Him.
Schoenstatt Scotland Press