March 2008 Hamilton Diocese Cursillo Communique

Welcome to the first 2008 edition of the Communique for the Hamilton, Ontario Diocese Cursillo community.

2008 Weekends

It is my pleasure to announce to you the names of the Rectora & Rector for the upcoming weekends

Ladies Weekend – Oct. 30th to Nov. 2nd, 2008 @ Mount Mary, Ancaster
Rectora:  Vera Vath – 535 Eastbridge Blvd., Waterloo, Ontario N2K 3Z7
E-mail veracask@sentex.net   - 519-888-0980

Men’s Weekend – Nov. 13th to Nov. 16th, 2008 @ Deemerton Formation Centre.
Rector:  Martin Saunders – 75 Pattison Place, Fergus, Ontario N1M 3V3
E-mail martin_saunders2@hotmail.com  -   519-787-7034

I am attaching a copy of a “Want to be on Team” form in order that all Cursillistas who are feeling “that call” to come forward and serve on a team will do so.

Also you will find attached a “Candidate Application” which I ask that you also print out for your safe keeping.  I am sure that since our last weekends you have discovered that new friend that you have been speaking to about the Cursillo Movement.

I am asking all Ultreya Leaders to consider as part of your Ultreya supplies printed copies of the “Want to be on Team” form and also the “Candidate Application” form to be made available to all those who attend your Ultreya. 

We have to remember that just because some of us have e-mail that does not let everyone in on the necessary information being provided to all Cursillistas. 

I would like to suggest to all Ultreya Leaders that besides these applications being made available that you consider having a “Prayer Network” set up in order for all of us to continue to pray for special intentions.  Remember that prayer is part of the basics for Cursillo besides being a friend and how can you continue to be a friend if you have no way of contacting that person you just met at Ultreya.  This prayer network can be set up with a list going out by e-mail and also an actual telephone call list.  Remember the only way to increase your Ultreya by members is to sponsor someone. 

Sometimes like the Samaritan woman I can miss the richness of all that is happening around me.  Just as the Samaritan woman and the disciples were at the shallow level when Jesus was speaking profoundly, I can live my life at a shallow level while the profound mysteries of life, of other people, of God go unnoticed.  Life can become stale, routine, dull.  Every now and then I have to step back and look at my life.  I have to stop and think about how I can allow freshness to come into my life.  Otherwise, my life can simply be a stale progression of TV, work, driving, newspapers, and a dull routine.  I have to stop and ask myself:  Do I ever open myself up to drink the fresh water and enjoy the rich food that is all around me?  Do I  pray?  Do I ever dream?  Do I ever read…or discuss new thoughts?  Do I ever reach out to others and feel the joy of doing the Father’s will?  Life is meant to be rich and full.  We need to savor the good food and the living waters that are all around us.  Other people hold the promise of new thoughts and new ideas.  The mystery of God is within arms-reach through prayer.  During these remaining weeks of Lent, I ought to think hard about my life and find ways to drink more of that living water and eat more of that rich food.
(Borrowed from the Lenten daily reading  “The Little Black Book” and given to us from a Cursillista at St. Anthony Daniel’s Ultreya.)
I am hoping that this information will create a stir in your heart and that all of you will continue to pray for the Cursillo Movement, the Secretariat, and for all your relatives and friends – who knows – maybe – just maybe somewhere in the crowd of others you may see that person who could be asked if they would like to make a weekend.  THINK ABOUT IT AND MAY THE HOLY SPIRIT CONTINUE TO BUG YOU.

Take care everyone – Joyce Hause – Weekend Co-ordinator.

A celebration of Eduardo Bonnin's life and a General Ultreya

Dear friends,                                                                                                      07feb08eng

May the peace and love of Our Lord always be with you!

With great pain in our heart for having lost a friend that taught us with his own life the true meaning of the love and friendship of God in Jesus Christ, We forward the letter sent by the Mallorcan Diocesan Secretariat:

Secretariado Diocesano de Cursillos de Cristiandad de Mallorca
C/ Seminario nº 4- oficina 218
(07001)Palma de Mallorca
Tfno.- 971.21.31.00 Ext.- 218
e-mail: oficina@mccmallorca.org

Palma de Mallorca, a 6 de febrero de 2008.
                Queridos amigos cursillistas:
In this moment, our Heart should beat with the feeling and certainty that Love is stronger that death,
 EDUARDO BONNIN AGUILÓ Founder of the Cursillos in Christianity Movement, but besides everything our teacher, brother and friend, has gone to encounter Our Father.  Today, February 6 at 16:00 hours, Eduardo passed away knowing that God Loved him, believing in the resurrection and happy like always, even though not satisfied.

Faithful to Jesus’ Gospel, open to the world’s reality and attentive to all the people around him, Eduardo has left a legacy of friendship with God and men through the Cursillos in Christianity.

Is now, when we feel the sadness in our heart for having lost someone who we profoundly loved, when our faith makes it certain that Eduardo is extremely happy in the presence of Our Father.  And this, like he would always said, “It’s a reason of great joy”


This Secretariat will try to send this news trough all the mediums at our disposition.  However, we ask that you help us; as Eduardo taught us that things are better done through the Friendship method, distribute this news to all your friends, cursillistas or non-cursillistas that have known Eduardo.

We have also created the internet location http://eduardoinmemoriam.blogspot.com for all those who wish to share messages or memories of or with Eduardo Bonnin.  Especially for those that cannot personally attend the services.


When Eduardo visited the prisoners, he called them fortunate and important because in a few hours they would be with the Father.  For us, Eduardo has always been important, but from now on, in our prayers we can ask him to intercede for us to the Father, so that we can continue the evangelization of the world and to make it possible that the maximum number of people find the joy of knowing that God loves them. If Eduardo was able to do all that he did, how much more can he do from heaven.
Thank you Eduardo for making our life better, for helping us be happier and because our lives wouldn’t have the Light of the Gospel if you had not been here! 

DE COLORES Y PARA SIEMPRE!

                DE COLORES!
   
Cristina González Duque
Oficina
Secretariado Diocesano de Mallorca 
Movimiento de Cursillos de Cristiandad

Even though his departure hurts in the deepest part of our soul, we rejoice that he is already at the presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, for, as one day Bishop James Tamayo, USA National Secretariat Episcopal Advisor, would say after meeting and conversing with him, “I have met a living saint”.

We invite you to join in prayer so that from heaven, he continues to intercede for us to continue our path towards unity in criterion and fidelity to that true Charism that he lived and taught for more then 63 years, so that the whole world around him could know that God in Jesus Christ loves us.  Let his Humility, Faith and Hope that so characterized him be a guide to continue living and evangelizing through this beautiful Charism. 

De Colores,

Juan Ruiz
Presidente - OMCC

Click here for a poster about the June 1st Mass that will be celebrated by Bishop Bergie in honour of Eduardo Bonnin followed by a General Ultreya at St. Anthony Daniels's in Kitchener at 1:00 pm.

CCCC Conference 2008

This year, the annual CCCC Conference is being held in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of British Columbia from June 26th - 29th. The theme of the conference is "Pre-Cursillo - Witness to the Good News. Click here for more information and click here for a registration form. Registration for the conference is done either on-line at www.cursillo-canada.org or by mail to the CCC Resource Centre. The mailing address is:

Sheelagh Winston

CCCC Resource Centre

c/o Joyful Noise Books and Gifts

957 Brunette Ave

Coquitlam BC V3K 1E1

Ph: 514-713-0349

Witness talk

This month's talk comes from Mary Peplow.

Today I speak of being called or put in the path of  another when you least expect it. 
 
My talk to you is a true story that happened to me over the  Christmas holidays. I was staying with my daughter and son in law.  The experience moved me enough to send out a New Year  letter describing what had happened. I sent it to family, friends and clients.
 
One of those recipients was Joyce, who casually mentioned if I would like to share it with the group.
As I sat at my desk to work on my talk  an email popped up with the following prayer, one that most of you will recognize.

May today there be peace within. 

May you trust God that you are exactly where  you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite  possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have  received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May  you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence  settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing,  dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of  us.

The phone rang early yesterday morning in TO at Meighann's house where I was for the holidays, and it was my best friend Debbie telling me my train was on time. She had already been on the internet to check that out ( I only know of two people that would qualify for 5 Star Travel Agents and that is Debbie and my sister in law Janice. They are amazing at finding travel deals and info.) Everything was organized for Drew to meet me at the station. I also got the weather report that it was snowing like crazy.You all know my paranoia when it comes to driving in that, hence the train ride to Meighann's.

We arrive down at Front Street and my son in law Jason said he knows a back way in where I won't get soaked from the rain/snow. We are literally in the bowels of Union Station, dark, and eerie to say the least but he did know where he was going, much to the amazement of Meighann!
 
Jason and I get thru to departures and he is concerned that I will have to wait for an hour. I am fine I say and will buy a coffee and just chill-lax (Eva's favorite saying.) The line up had already started so I did grab a java and headed for the hour wait, yes in high heeled boots standing on those stone floors!
 
Finally we are boarding so I slug my heavy case, purse and Xmas gifts to the escalator in hopes that I can stay balanced with all this weight and the few extra pounds that I am carrying from too much of EVERYTHING over the holidays.
 
All I wanted was a quiet seat where I could sit and read for the next two hours. I spread my things out, put my coat beside me and opened my Wayne Dwyer book, The Power of Intention.....hahahah it was my intention to have a great train ride and enjoy the view of the beautiful white wonderland in peace!
 
As the late comers were boarding I hunkered down in my seat and put my nose into my book hoping not to have eye contact with anyone, and quite honestly not wanting to share a seat. Well I succeeded until the very last moment when a sweet shaky voice asked if they could sit with me. Along came this big, plush black and brown dog the size of my "beloved Daphne" and I know you all know what that is like. Many of you have experienced her wild strong tail slapping you at my front door or you have been part of the experience as she clears a coffee table of  4  wine glasses in a matter of seconds! The next thing that was pushed into the seat was a big plastic container of toiletries and Xmas gifts and then my new friend.
 
My daughter Meighann always says to me "Mom you are just a magnet when it comes to meeting people."
 
For the next 90 min. I traveled the life of 17 year old Jamie (my new friend) who is heading back into Guelph to go to her "facility". As soon as she mentioned "facility" I knew that she was headed into Elora, to PORTAGE.
 
Now for any of you that don't know about PORTAGE it is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the social rehabilitation of young substance abusers.  In the late 1960s, a group of Montréal residents who were concerned about the local rise in drug addiction wanted to come up with solutions to this growing social problem. This grassroots committee founded Portage in 1970. The name reflects the original mission: finding a pathway around an obstacle in order to continue one’s journey. With funding from the J. W. McConnell Family Foundation, the first residential rehabilitation centre based on the therapeutic community approach opened on February 14, 1973, in the Town of Prévost, in the Laurentians.

Many Portage staff members are former users who are now highly effective role models, because a shared identity greatly facilitates the rehabilitation process. Staff training meets Therapeutic Communities of America standards, and employees benefit from continuing education.

 Jamie shared her life of drug and alcohol abuse from the age of 12, how friends got her started and how her very alcoholic father kept her well supplied with booze. She went on to say that she cried from the pain of several of the drugs she had done and how she wished she could live her life all over again. That she never ate, was under 90 lbs., how her grandmother walked in on her shooting up heroin, how her mother caught her doing a line of cocaine, how she has dropped acid and done crystal meth and the list goes on and on. This past summer she lost a baby part way thru her pregnancy and then turned herself over to the police so she could finally get some help. She had been selling for years but was proud that she never prostituted herself for drugs.
 
Jamie spoke frankly about how she had totally disrupted her family life and that her father no longer would speak to her (go figure he was one of her supporters as they could at one time drink together.) Jamie's liver is 3 times its normal size due to drinking 6 -24's of beer a week and 2- 40 pounders of alcohol. I can't imagine! Her arteries are clogged from all the drugs so next summer she will undergo heart surgery. She flattened her nose out for me and told me that the coke destroys  most of the cartilage. Her skin is now quite nice but she said that "users" pick at their skin as they often feel like there  are bugs all over it. This girl is so beautiful and looks like a typical teenager.
 
Now why would I write this you may be thinking? Well quite frankly she touched me to the core. She was honest and open and repenting! She was so sad for where her life had gone and the damage she had done along the way. She kept saying if she could only go back and live her life over again she would and that being stuck in the past was really, really difficult as the images of what she had done to herself was horrifying.  I also know that she touched me because addictions have followed me my whole life....I have been on the receiving end and have experienced  what it does to all those along the way.
 
 I listened intently to Jamie, was rather overwhelmed by how frank she was. At times I was lost for words but I did tell her that there was HOPE  for her , that we all have made mistakes in our past, that she is very young and has a whole life ahead of her.   I told her that we all have to learn to live our lives in the NOW!  I told her that there is often comfort living in our past, but if we stay there we can never experience all that life has to offer!  It is in the NOW that we relinquish our attachment to the past and the future and make the NOW our main focus in life. It is where God wants us to live because in this very NOW, this very moment you are is where life is happening. It's like going on a get trip and missing the JOURNEY because you are constantly worried and planning for the next day or next leg of the trip.
 
It reminds me of my family trip to Tuscany last summer ,9 family members and children (never again) planned the trip, but I later realized so much of it was always planning the logistics of tomorrow instead of enjoying where we were at that moment....being in a olive grove and staying in the villa on that property was totally amazing. That was where life was happening.....not worried about TOMORROW.
 

It's really enjoying the BLISS.....the BLISS that I have come to recognize when I am walking Daphne.....we take many trails in my neighborhood  where  I have found a small jewel in the middle of a residential area......a pond where ducks live, an old stone bridge and lots of trees....people driving by Biehn Dr. would never know it was there. It is there that I have come to know the NOW.....the NOW where the birds chirp and the trees are truly beautiful, where that little pond and rush of the stream quiets me and I feel God's presence everywhere....it's where HE gives me my STRENGTH and my ENERGY...it is where I come to pray. Tears often come to my eyes there and it is where my gratitude always over takes me.....yes it stops me every single time.....or across the street I have a small wooded area that takes some maneuvering to get down the slope into a much bigger treed area, where I come eye to eye with deer....the beauty of the NOW, of God and quiet....the beauty of where life is happening for me at that moment.

The author Earl Nightingale said
"Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored."
Jamie went on to say that in the beginning she could only live hour to hour...."if I can just get thru one hour with out a drink" .  I told her that really that is all we have as no one knows when we will be called home. I told her how brave I felt she was.
 
She cut her trip short by a day, as her friends at home were encouraging her to do drugs again even though they know where she is and the success she has had to this moment. It was very brave of her to call her facility and ask for someone to meet her so she could come back and resist those temptations.
 
If Jamie hadn't been brave and moved out of her  PAST  she would still be shooting up. Instead she took that first step and has now been clean for two months. She told me this has been the hardest "trip" she has been on. Her mother and grandmother are paying to send her to Portage and the boyfriend she has had for 3 years is now working at Portage and has been clean for almost a year. That in itself gave me HOPE and that is what I believe the Holiday Season and A New Year is all about. 
 
Most of us can't imagine the hell these addicts must go thru.....no candy, no gum, no curling irons, hair dryers, no visitors no letters until you reach a certain level. You have support but you do have to do the trip alone to get the chemicals out of your system.
 

So as we come upon A New Year I ask that we all hold each other a little longer, that those of you with young children really do pay attention to who your children chum with, that grudges and anger be forgotten, and that living in your past will only keep you there and prevent you from awakening to Your Life's Purpose. 

That all things are possible thru God  even If you seem to be in an impossible situation, get with God!
 
Sometimes it’s so easy to focus on our problems and try to solve them in our own strength. But remember, the battle belongs to the Lord. He has a plan for your victory. He has a plan to give you a way out. He is making the things that seem impossible, possible. You can trust Him today. The Bible says that He has plans for your good, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Start believing and confessing today, “I am with God, and with God all things are possible!”
 
This year I won't review 2007 with  negativity, viewing difficult times, short comings, fears or losses! Sure a loss of 14 lbs is a great thing but the loss of a friend or a loved one is not. Many of us have experienced losses this year in one way or another but hopefully our attitudes will see the good or the lesson or the peace that each one of those brought to us.
 
Instead I will look at the beauty of my children, family and grand daughters, the addition of a son in law and his beautiful family, my spiritual friends, the new faces that have come into my life, the wonderful support of my CSR at work, all of you who really do care and worry, dinner invitations that are only 100 steps away and come just when I need them, laughter and tears with you gals on the "crying couch" and friends that I have been re-united with from my past. I will also look at the beauty of my "furry security system" that I have and not look at all her shedding black hair but the unconditional love that she offers me, to the clients who are truly my friends and to the gift of being at exactly the right place at the right time such as I was yesterday. That really was a special gift for me because it made me view this year in a totally new way.
 
It has always been my belief that God put's people in our path just when we need them and that he fills us with new gifts each and every day. We just have to be aware of them -  they are all ours for the taking. To leave them behind and not make use of those gifts and talents really is a sin.
 
In writing this today, it also made me think of the Story of Life being compared to a Scattered Bag of Frozen Peas  by Michael Smith.  
 
  A few weeks after my first wife, Georgia, was called to heaven, I was cooking dinner for my son and myself. For a vegetable, I decided on frozen peas. As I was cutting open the bag, it slipped from my hands and crashed to the floor. The peas, like marbles, rolled everywhere. I tried to use a broom, but with each swipe the peas rolled across the kitchen, bounced off the wall on the other side and rolled in another direction.

My mental state at the time was fragile. Losing a spouse is an unbearable pain. I got on my hands and knees and pulled them into a pile to dispose of, I was half laughing and half crying as I collected them. I could see the humor in what happened, but it doesn't take much for a person dealing with grief to break down.

For the next week, every time I was in the kitchen, I would find a pea that had escaped my first cleanup. In a corner, behind a table leg, in the frays at the end of a mat, or hidden under a heater, they kept turning up. Eight months later I pulled out the refrigerator to clean, and found a dozen or so petrified peas hidden underneath.

At the time I found those few remaining peas, I was in a new relationship with a wonderful woman I met in a widow/widower support group. After we married, I was reminded of those peas under the refrigerator. I realized my life had been like that bag of frozen peas. It had shattered. My wife was gone. I was in a new city with a busy job and a son having trouble adjusting to his new surroundings and the loss of his mother. I was a wreck. I was a bag of spilled, frozen peas. My life had come apart and scattered.

When life gets you down; when everything you know comes apart; when you think you can never get through the tough times, remember, it is just a bag of scattered, frozen peas. The peas can be collected and life will move on. You will find all the peas. First the easy peas come together in a pile. You pick them up and start to move on. Later you will find the bigger and harder peas. When you pull it all together, life will be whole again.

The life you know can be scattered at any time. You will move on, but how fast you collect your peas depends on you. Will you keep scattering them around with a broom, or will you pick them up one-by-one and put your life back together?

My new friend Jamie is certainly picking up her spilled bag of frozen peas and my prayers will be with her that she continues to do so.

For each of you I am grateful for what you have offered me this year and I wish you a 2008 filled with Love, Hope  and Joy. Be Happy Now, and savor each moment of your life!

Cheers and Blessings,

Mary

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.

The Fifth Day

It has been several months since the last Communique went out and we have had many local Cursillistas pass away in that time:

The last word

He is Risen! Alleluia!! Happy Easter!!!