School of Leaders
As we are entering a New Year, the Cursillo community has several upcoming events planned, from a Grand Ultreya to the upcoming Rector and Rectora Discernment planned for January 13th at SS. Peter and Paul in Rocklin. I would like to add the upcoming School of Leaders Curriculum for the next several months:
Jan 11th- Life of the Founder and History of Cursillo
Feb 8th- The Foundational Charism
March 14th- The Mentality of Cursillo
April 11th- The Essence and Purpose of Cursillo
May 9th- Living What is Fundamental to Being Christian
June 13th- Dangers of Cursillo
July 11th- The Precursillo
August 8th- The Cursillo Weekend
The Zoom information:
ID: 890 4773 6914
Contact me for passcode
These meetings are subject to change as needed to accommodate Liturgical needs and a notification will be sent out with any changes and information.
Have a very Blessed New Year, Jeff Williams (SOL Chairperson)
What is Conviction, Let us look at the Websters Dictionary Definition: Conviction-Noun, A fixed or firm belief.
Everyone has conviction in there life, as we all have a fixed or firm belief in something like: work, religon, politics, family, friends, etc.
But let's take this definition a little further: In Theology Conviction means: A strong belief that something is true, even in the face of doubt or uncertainty. There are many examples of people in the bible living with conviction, like; Danial 1:8-9, "Danial was resolved not to defile himself with the kings food or wine: so he begged the Chief Chamberlin to spare him the defilement. Though God had given Danial the favor and sympathy of the Chief Chamberlin."
The Bible also shows us examples of conviction in faith, for example; "Abraham had faith that God would fulfill his promise to make him the father of many nations, even though he was old and childless." (Romans 4:17-21)
As Catholics we have a strong conviction in our faith, the Church and our Catholic Teachings, also as Cursillistas we have a strong conviction in our movement and in our brother's and sister's.
This leads us back to our mission as baptised Catholics and Cursillistas- which is to spread the Good News of Christ, but more importantly to be the good news to others. This is important in our society today as Christianity is being attack from all sides. We as Catholic Christians need to stand strong and united in our coviction of our faith, so we can overcome these attacks from outside the church and from within. We need to be the " Lamp Stand of Jesus" and shine his saving Graces and the truth of salvation to the world> How do we do this, with our fundimental Cursillo method of Piety, study, and apostolic Action. We need to have our eyes fixed firmly on our enviornments, studing everthing, so we can plan our Apostolic Action through Prayer on how to carry out God's will in our enviornments. So, we can spread the truth that Christ Love's us All. As we learn in Cursillo we need to be friends with Christ, so we can make friends for Christ. Let's all of us have the conviction on our Apostolic Action and Make a Friend, Be a Friend and Bring a Friend to Christ.
What is Friendship? This is a word that has a different meaning to everyone, But let us look at the definition from the dictionary; Friendship is defined as: "affection"- a pure and disinterested feeling that exists between people, stemming from a mutual esteem, appreciation and empathy.
As always, the dictionary refers to the concept, to what the word means, but it is life itself that tells us what it really is. Without any doubt the wonder of life, where it can be best captured and most valued, is inside the person, and the quality that can give them the most joy is their ability to understand, feel and spread that joyful experience of Friendship.
When we talk friendship, we must define the two different concepts of it. First, there is the particular friend; although one can have more then one friend, we cannot forget that each one requires a different approach. In a word each friend requires a " custom-made approach". Secondly, the term "friend" is used in the generic sense. Generically, friend is a word, which like many other words has undergone a certain inflation of its meaning, which has had a affect of lowering the meaning.
In our society, their was a distinction between "acquantance" and "friends". The first of these is rarely used now because both meanings are encompassed today together in the second word "friends". In reality a acquaintance is someone we know, but we have few details about them, we occasionally talk to them and have superficial dealings with them.
A friend is someone that we know intamate details about, we know their wives and there childern. We go out to dinner with them and we may even go to the same church as them, they are a friend that is loveable, approachable and close to us.
Now, putting this into the term of Cursillo, how do we get this level of friendship with someone. First, we go back to study of the enviornment Rollo. We have to see how they react in there enviornmnet, then we pray to our ultimate friend, Christ, to find the best way to reach out to the person so we can get to know them on a deeper level. Then after we make that friend, we have to be a friend, which means we have to trust them and let them into our lives and all this starts with our friendship with Christ and knowing ourselves and through the Love and grace we get from the Lord.
In friendship, what really matters is that we gradually get to understand that our friendship with Christ has to be visible and transparent in our friendly attitude towards others. It is through this concept of friendship that we will maintain the Cursillo movement and to evangelize. It is the Good News of Jesus Christ and change the enviornments that we are in.
THE PERSON
By Jeff Williams, SOL Chair
The term “person” is undoubtedly one of the essential components, if not the prime concept of the fundamental thinking of the Cursillo movement.
So, what is a person, according to Websters Dictionary, the definition is: it is a noun, 1) A human Being, the personality of a human being. That is the basic definition of “The Person”.
So, Why is this important, The Cursillo movement had it’s beginnings 83 years ago, by our founder Edwardo Bonnin, with the first Cursillo in 1940s. Our joy is meaningful only if the movement, which was born then, and has grown to a worldwide movement that has helped over millions of people to realize the value and meaning of not only being a simple individual or just another human being, but of being a “person” of Christ.
Think back to your Cursillo weekend, what is the first thing we do after the opening? We meditate on the “person,” We do this with meditation on:
- Know yourself- putting our lives in order.
- Prodigal Son- We learn Gods Love.
- The Three Glances of Christ-we learn that these glances teach us that our eyes of a person can penetrate the soul of another person.
These meditations are the start of the conversion process of Cursillo, because if you don’t know yourself, you cannot know others fully.
One of the funniest things about being Christian, is that it is a continuous chain of encounters that generate the need for further searches of oneself. We are continuously finding things at all hours everyday in all people and all places, and these encounters drive us to find new quests and new encounters, that’s how the person works as understood by Cursillo.
We believe to think better, our belief in Christ helps us think in a more precise manor, Our beliefs do not deprive us of thinking. It is valuable to mention at this point a phrase by C.K. Chesterton, which is “when you enter a church you should take off your hat, but not your head.”
The concept of a person, which is the essence and the fundamental charism of Cursillo, rejects individualism, the same way it rejects Angelism and sacrificial masochism. From here our essential conviction on how to live and to be saved “in a cluster” lies in the certainty that you only live in fulfillment with in that which you share with others.
When we think back to our cursillo weekend again, we learned that we need to Study Our Environment- this was the first Rollo written by Edwardo Bonnin, why?
Because you need to study the person you are trying to reach, this is the first step in our motto.
Make a friend, be a friend and bring a friend to Christ.
Essential Principles of the Cursillo
The essence of the cursillo is, that it is a method by which makes it possible for both men and women to live a fundamental Christian Life together with Christ, so their soul, by their own spiritual force of gravity will keep on structuring Christianity with the richness and vigor, in the mode of the beginnings of Christianity. This structure should be done in the light of the present teachings of the Catholic Church and the Pope and in the pure lines of the gospel.
The Cursillo movement, requires and facilitates all that is fundamental for living a Christian life and nothing more. This all starts with the first step, which is the cursillo three-day weekend and more importantly, later in the group reunion, which is their end realization of the 4th day and Ultreya.
The cursillo movement is not just any one type of spirituality, but it is a movement that encompasses all types of spirituality, and it makes all types of spirituality possible to have a deeper hunger for God in the souls. The cursillo movement is just a layman’s spirituality, contrary to what some people think, but it is the only church movement that makes it possible for all souls to live a deeper Christianity in a manner completely accessible to all Baptized Christians not just the layman.
To facilitate the cursillo Christian community way of spirituality and living a fundamental Christian life that we are to achieve, the cursillo is structured into two stages. The first stage is living a cursillo three-day weekend, there in the 3 days, live a fundamental Christian life is made easy, by a series of short talks and meditations and discussions with your peers on the weekend.
The second stage is the group reunion, or 4th day group, in which community living is facilitated throughout one’s whole life, by sharing your piety, study and action and your successes and failures with your cursillo brothers and sisters that keeps you on the path of God.
As we have seen the evidence over the long history of the Charism of the cursillo movement. This method is a proven success in achieving a growing community of fundamental Christians living a fundamental Christian life. This movement has continued a rich tradition of evangelization of our baptismal vow of carrying the good news of Christ to the World, and by making a friend, being a friend and bring a friend to Christ.