Welcome to the ninth edition of the communique for the Hamilton, Ontario Diocese Cursillo community.
Thanks to all of you who prayed and did Palanca for the group of us that were on Pilgrimage to Mallorca last month for the 3 day “Cursillo of Cursillos”. It was an absolutely spirit filled and informative time to be with people from around the world but especially the Mallorcan people and of course the founder of Cursillo, Eduardo Bonin. Being in his presence was truly like being in the presence of a saint. The Mallorcan people were so very kind, welcoming and loving, greeting us at the airport with a banner and singing DeColores. Even though most of us did not understand their language, we didn’t have to…. we could feel their love and friendship.
The “3 day Cursillo of Cursillos” was very uplifting and informative. We learned how important it is that we respect the DNA of the Cursillo movement. Cursillo is what it is and we should preserve it just as the founder intended. Everything is based on Friendship. We are the “keepers of the flame”. We must try to keep the movement authentic and always allow the candidate to be “free” to experience what and how God will work in his/her lives. There is a great need to try to “undecorate” our Christmas trees (weekends) here in Canada We learned that the weekend is the least important phase of the Cursillo movement , far more important is the work done in the pre and post Cursillo. We were told that the most importantpart of the Cursillo movement is the “School of Leaders”. Ideally, this is where the secretariat and the teams should be selected from.
If you have not attended any of the past 3 sessions, please think about joining us. You will be most welcomed. The next session of Cursillo Enrichment – School of Leaders is Saturday, December 15th at 10 AM at St. Joseph’s Church 409 Paisley Street in Guelph.
Following the December session, the next sessions will run from February until May, 2008, on the 3rd Saturday of the month. We hope to focus on some of the material from the Mallorcan Cursillo of Cursillos in the future.
Advent is upon us. On top of the usual demands of family and friends, work and household chores, we now add on decorating, baking, card and letter writing, shopping and then wrapping as well as all the extra cleaning for our holiday guests. We suddenly feel so overwhelmed with this busyness that we often let the noise and crowds take away the joy and peacefulness of the season.
What better time to emulate the life of Mother Teresa, who managed to remain calm and joyful in a hurricane of activity? She teaches us that it is the quality of our waiting that makes all the difference.
May your Advent and Christmas season be filled with all the joy that you let into your hearts during this most precious season, awaiting with great anticipation to celebrate once again that Jesus came to be among us as our friend.
Wishing you a very Merry and Joyous Christmas!
DeColores,
In Love and Friendship
Marg Weber
Post Cursillo and School of Leaders
December 1st was the date for our Advent Retreat at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Burlington. Father Mariusz welcomed us all during Mass and gave a dynamite presentation as part of the retreat. Celia Lobo did a great job mc'ing the retreat and Stephane Zara and Vilma Stradiotto also delivered great presentations. And the cake walk? Lot's of fun and a great way to raise funds for Secretariat. Many thanks to everyone who organized the retreat and to St. Paul the Apostle parish for letting us use their beautiful facility.
This month's sharing is from Father Frank:
Thy Kingdom come
In the original Latin these words are “Adveniat Regnum tuum”. When the story of Christianity was first taught to our Anglo\Saxon forebears they not only learned the word “Adveniat” but also lived the spirit of Advent. Their own Druid leaders [of prayer] incorporated ancient customs and mysteries into the most important event in all the history of mankind:
“The Coming [Advent] of the King
of heaven to earth.”
The red and deep green colours of Holly gave us, down through many centuries, the secular colours used around the world for Christmas. However, there is much more to it than that. Holly in England and Europe had the mysterious quality of surviving even in the cruellest of winter months. When even the sun seemed to have abandoned these people of the north and darkness covered the world, the Holly held out the promise of life and hope. There was an even greater mystery for these people hidden in the mistletoe which, for them, appeared out of nowhere on the branches of the oak trees. For these ancient people it was another gift of hope and promise of new life. They did not have our modern sciences to explain such mysteries; they could only conclude that mistletoe was a gift of the gods and that oak trees were the sacred dwelling of the gods, and not a marker to seek or avoid getting kissed.
With great wisdom when The Church brought the Good News to them She easily incorporated their customs into the celebration of the “Coming” of the Lord. Violet, a careful blending of red and blue, became the colour of anticipation. It is not the solid blue of royalty but a hint of royalty; it is not the vibrant living crimson of blood but a hint of new royal life. Immediately, we should recognize that Advent is also “De Colores”; in fact, it is all about colours.
Witness talk
Mini-Rollo – Barbara Fox
De Colores! That means onwards & upwards right? Well that’s a good way to describe our pilgrimage to Mallorca as well as the life journey that we picked up on our return. Onward & upward.
Does this mean that everything before has been for nothing or that those who didn’t go are left behind? Certainly not. Catherine Doherty, foundress of Madonna House in one of her epic poems describes God as calling to us from the top of the mountain “Come a little higher pilgrim” He is calling to all of us - every day. Well we’ve come a little higher through our travels but still have a long way to go.
Our pilgrimage was definitely a mountain top experience all right. Many of the tours took us to the top of mountains where we visited monasteries noted for cursillo weekends…Mt Hounerat & Lluc Monastery … then to the top of Mt Serrat.
What is it about a mountain top that is so awesome? One feels very close to God…perilously close to God as we swung around hair pin turns on the road looking down, down, down. Some gasped, other took yet another picture. Yes, mountains can make one feel quite vulnerable at the same time as they inspire awe.
The Cursillo de Cursillo was for me a mountain top experience inspiring some awe but mostly that feeling of vulnerability that forces one to push on through uneasiness to a better place.
My experience of the Cursillo de Cursillo is unique to me. I read another pilgrim’s eloquent tale of the pilgrimage & wondered if we had been on the same bus. A pilgrimage provides sandpaper for the soul and each soul has its own unique rough edges that need smoothing off.
Lessons learned, high points of the trip and eureka moments…??? Many are very personal and not yet fully digested. Some I can share are as follows.
When we arrived at the Palma de Mallorca airport, very weary indeed, we were greeted by a huge banner in a bright rainbow of colours saying De Colores and heard the Mallorcan Cursillistas singing De Colores in Spanish. It made me feel very special, very loved and very welcome in spite of my tiredness.
On the first Monday evening we travelled by bus to Palma to be part of the Mallorcan Ultreya. Annette, one of the Ultreya members took me under her wing as I got off the bus. She chatted in English & took me to meet Eduardo, pushing me past those who spoke Spanish so this gringo could have her turn. I greeted Eduardo & didn’t know what to say. So I just said “Thank you for the gift of Cursillo.” His answer: “It is a gift from God!”
Annette then showed me a courtyard with tall palm trees behind the church that in twilight reminded me of one of the Spanish - American Missions I visited near San Diego, California. I didn’t understand the Ultreya - it was all Spanish & I was very tired but I did understand the hospitality & felt very special to think Anette would share this beautiful courtyard – like secret garden with me.
Cursillo is not the only lay movement in the Church and it is not meant to be all things to all people nor does it try to be. What it does it does simply, through friendship. It shares with others the reality that God loves YOU, no matter who YOU are. Friendship carries that message into the other’s soul.
Cursillo does not impose anything on anyone. One must be free to do or not to do, to believe or not to believe. As Cursillistas, as friends we can only prepare the runway for the Holy Spirit to land in the other’s heart.
Cursillo is about the Gospel with common sense. Common sense rules!
We should never criticize or judge others but try to admire them and understand them. Everyone should feel important, not the most important, but still very important that God is in them and that God loves them. Annette did this for me.
Cursillo is about living out our holiness yes but with naturalness, freedom, respect, friendship and of course, common sense. We don’t put the bread in the other person’s mouth we rather express our delight in the bread.
We don’t come to Ultreya to show off but to live out friendship and to reveal Christ to each other through our relationships. Each one should feel loved and valued. We have to allow people to be themselves. We can do this by listening and by sharing the delights of our heart.
We have to be Mary’s in a Martha world, meaning that when we learn to sit at the feet of another human being with respect, awe, understanding & freedom we are loving Christ in that person just as Mary did.
I learned that there is a distinction between having an ecumenical ultreya and having other faiths attend our Catholic ultreya. “Eduardo’s says…”you can only add so much water to soup before it becomes something else.”
Small Group is not a social group, not a parish group, it does not have assigned membership, and it is not a group formed to have an apostolate. It is a group of close friends who freely form themselves, meet regularly, to share & grow in their faith.
It is a treasure. Like a marriage it must be protected from injury, intrusion, neglect etc. We can’t let toxic relationships mar its beauty. Compatible friendship holds it together. Discord tears it apart.
I must admit I had trouble reconciling the screening out of incompatible newcomers with welcoming all in Christ’s name. This struggle followed me back across the Atlantic to be meditated on in front of the Blessed Sacrament and finally the grace of understanding came this past week as I watched a work-related DVD about boundary setting. It explained the necessity of protecting what we value by setting boundaries around it. Your marriage, your job or your small group - if it’s precious to you it deserves to be protected from harm.
This was foreign to me. Perhaps you find that strange but many of us in the helping professions will go to any length to put ourselves out to help someone we perceive to be in need. This is not always good for us or for the person.
This morning we sang that beautiful hymn – “For All the Saints” in which it says of God “Thou art our rock our fortress and our might” God is our Fortress, a strong wall that protects us because we are precious to Him. Cursillo is a precious gift from God. He is protecting it from becoming distorted through its Foundational Charism.
Through piety (meditation before the Blessed Sacrament) and study (the DVD) I am empowered to take action to strengthen & protect what is a gift and a treasure – my small group. Hopefully I can set boundaries in other areas of my life where necessary also.
And then there were the Irish. As a whole they are such good fun – especially at the Fiesta! There was a delightful Irish couple in their 70’s. She sang a little ditty - everyone loved her. Talent is God’s gift to us – how we use it is our gift to God! She was a gift indeed.
Our witness of how we respond to evil with good is a more powerful witness than the good we set out deliberately to do. Therefore it’s more important to change oneself than to change the world for it is out of the heart that our words and actions flow. The world is always watching us to see how we respond in the crunch.
And finally, being Christian, being a Cursillista is not a new piece of furniture in our house it is rather the light that illuminates our house. We can bring that light to others thought our friendship shown through our respect, giving them freedom to be who they are, and thereby demonstrating to them that they have infinite value and that God loves them.
De Colores!
Please send me (drmilne@sympatico.ca) any talks you think should be published so we can publish a witness talk every month. Please realize that I will have to use my judgment on whether or not a talk is published so it's possible that not every talk will get published.
DE COLORES.