In the history of Schoenstatt, the pedagogical application of the covenant of love to everyday living has led to the theory of „workday sanctity”. This describes a form of lay spirituality which has as its objective to empower Christians in the world to live their lives within family, society and profession in the spirit of the gospel. The issue here, actually, is the sanctification of the world in all spheres of life. The idea of workday sanctity has played a crucial role in the formation of the Schoenstatt Secular Institutes.
Since the beginning, the Schoenstatt spirituality was marked by a simple reality: seeking to overcome a head in the clouds piety that was only practical and practiced in protected nooks, but failed before the challenges of everyday life. Everyday life manifested in the daily tasks of the family, at school or the university, in the work place, living and sharing with others, are not an obstacle for sanctity; on the contrary, it is the place to live and grow in it. This requires that those who follow this spirituality do not leave their faith or Christian convictions at the door of businesses, of government, or university; rather, they live them with true everyday sanctity.
Secondary causes
When I interiorly withdraw from daily life, when I experience the world and my relationship with others in daily life as something bad and I flee to a merely spiritual life, I cannot fully live the meaning of the Covenant of Love that is a covenant that unites (not separates) heaven and earth.
To feel at home in heaven with God and being totally at home in my daily life is not a contradiction. Having a home means feeling sheltered, protected by people, and feeling at home in a place where I can experience and feel the love and protection of God in a vital and sensitive manner. Father calls this secondary causes. In the measure of living out of the love of God, out of the Covenant of Love, makes me then see God in and behind everyone and everything in my daily life and thus binding other people and places into this love.
Sources: P. Engelbert Monnerjahn, Schoenstatt. An Induduction
