Lift
them up in prayer …
PRAYER/ADORATION
HOURS (by Ultreya
Center) for the January 2007 David City
Weekends
Thursday,
7:00pm - Friday, 1:00am Hastings/Holdrege/Minden
Friday,
1:00am - 7:00am Beatrice/Crete/Hebron
Friday,
7:00am - 1:00pm Lincoln
Friday,
1:00pm - 7:00pm Southwestern Nebraska (McCook/Imperial/Grant)
Friday,
7:00pm - Saturday 1:00am Nebraska
City/Plattsmouth/Offutt
Saturday,
1:00am - 7:00am Hastings/Holdrege/Minden
Saturday,
7:00am - 1:00pm Beatrice/Crete/Hebron
Saturday,
1:00pm - 7:00pm Southwestern
Nebraska (McCook/Imperial/Grant)
Saturday,
7:00pm - Sunday 1:00am Lincoln
Sunday,
1:00am - Sunday, 7:00am Nebraska
City/Plattsmouth/Offutt
Sunday,
7:00am - 5:00pm David
City/Shelby/Wahoo
Comments from New
Fourth Dayers
On the day I was born, God gave me a
stack of blank pieces of paper. He said
“Some day I will ask you to tell me what you did with this life that I
gave you.” So, every morning I
pick up a clean piece of paper and record the events of my life. Some of the pages are brightly colored with
stories of love and happiness. Others
are tear-stained. Some are torn and
repaired and there are those with beautiful pictures on them.
Then I made little stacks to represent
different areas of my life. I have one
for Daughter, Wife, Mother, Friend, CCD Teacher, Stewardship, etc. All my life I have been adding to these pages
and making more stacks. It became harder
and harder to keep the piles neatly separated and they began to spill over and
become mixed.
Since I am somewhat of a perfectionist
and think everything should be in its place, this was difficult for me. I became more focused on the piles instead of
what was written on the pages. Then, one
day, with the help of God’s boney pokey finger, I found myself on a
Cursillo Weekend. During the Weekend, as
I filled the pages of my days, God took all the piles and scooped them up and
blended them into one stack, one person, me.
My Cursillo experience brought all those pages together. It is the common thread that runs through my
life. It blends who I am with what I
do. Our Friday night Cursillo grouping
(Group Reunion) is the glue that holds me
together and strengthens me for the week ahead.
When the day comes that I hand those
pages back to God, He will see that many of the pages contain the names and
stories about the times that I have spent with you, my fellow
cursillistas. I believe God will be
pleased and will smile and say “De Colores!” Kathy
Rowell, All Saints’ Parish, Holdrege
***************************
Dear Brother and
Sister Cursillistas,
My Cursillo Weekend
was absolutely fantastic! I don't think
that I ever felt closer to God than that Weekend. It was important to go into the Weekend with
your heart open to what the Lord has to say.
My spiritual life has grown immensely and my marriage of over thirty
years is being blessed in very special ways ... my husband and I are growing
closer together. I pray for all who have
lived a Weekend and for all those who have yet to live one. De Colores! Pat Heinemann, St. Mary Parish,
Wallace
***************************
After the Cursillo Weekend, a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ seemed like a real possibility. It created, I believe, a desire for a
relationship with Christ that had never entered my mind prior to the Fourth
Day. I’ve been working on this
relationship and, hopefully, have made a very small step forward. However, even taking a step in the right
direction seems significant.
The Cursillo Movement brought out the
fact that community is an
important aspect of our spiritual journey … that we are in this journey
together … that we truly can support and help one another by sharing our faith journey, by
our example, and by encouraging our
fellow travelers.
One of the neat things about Cursillo is
that it has built in mechanisms (e.g., Group Reunion
and Ultreya) to keep the glow … the cloud-nine phenomena …
alive. A retreat may give you a rosy
glow for a time but it eventually fades.
In Cursillo, the Lord helps us persevere in our spiritual lives and in
the things we learned on the Weekend.
One example of how Cursillo has changed
my spiritual life is in the time spent with Him. Post Cursillo, holy hours seem, somehow, to
have been shortened. An hour seems less
than an hour!
In addition, Cursillo has made it much
easier for me to talk more freely to others about spiritual matters. In times past, I would never talk to another
about matters of the Spirit. I can do
that now (with some, at least), and it seems right and good. For example, I can say to you Praised be Jesus Christ! In the past, I would not have been able to
say that … it’s growth … may it continue … De Colores!! Jim
Fraser, Sacred Heart Parish, Hebron
News From the
Secretariat …
· Region VI Spring 2007 Encounter ... The Lincoln Diocese has agreed to host the Region VI Spring Encounter the weekend of April 27-29, 2007, in David City, NE.
Anyone who is interested in helping out in any capacity (planning, set-up, tear-down, music, food,
etc.) should contact any member of the Secretariat to volunteer … what a
great way to share the gifts that God has given you! There will be more details in upcoming Newsletters
… ask God in what capacity He wants you to be of service to Him
… …and plan now to be there!!
· School of Leaders (SOL) ... is another
opportunity to form/share community.
Join us as we continue to deepen our understanding of the Cursillo
Movement … together … it is about friendship and personal contact
… each of us being Christ to others … coming to know each other and
Christ better .... ALL
ARE INVITED! SOL is about doing
our Lord’s work through the vehicle (Method) of Cursillo. In working and studying and praying together,
we discover ways of doing that to which our Lord calls us. The next SOL will be Nov. 17-18, 2006,
at St. Ann Parish in Doniphan, NE (registration form included in Newsletter). SOL begins on Friday evening with a retreat
phase (Mass, meditation, Confessions, and food/fellowship); and continues into
Saturday (we are usually finished by about 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon). You will come away with a deeper love for God
and better know His love for you … ALL
are invited to participate.
· Precursillo … NOW is the appropriate time to
be preparing and inviting candidates …
You know how long (how much talking and praying) it takes to help
candidates get to “yes” when invited … help them get the dates
of the January Weekends put on their calendars NOW, and then continue to keep
in touch with them (personal contact … another hallmark of Cursillo) up
to the dates of the Weekends …
Make
a friend, Be a friend, and Bring that friend to Christ!!!
********
Precursillo (thoughts
from Chuck Micek, Precursillo Chairperson)
The next set of Three Day Weekends are coming up
sooner than you think … January 11-14, 2007 (for men) and January 18-21,
2007 (for women). It is time now
to be praying to God about the individuals you are going to invite, and then,
pop the question. It’s a form of
evangelization you should be thinking about … planning … carrying
out … right now …
Evangelizing
takes time and patience. In John 4:15,
the woman at the well said to Jesus, “Sir,
give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to
draw water.” The woman
mistakenly believed that if she could have the water Jesus offered, she would
not have to return to the well each day.
She was interested in Jesus’ message because she thought it would
make her life easier. However, if that
was that easy, people would accept Christ’s message for the wrong
reasons. Christ did not come to take
away challenges, but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with
problems from God’s perspective.
This
woman did not immediately understand what Jesus was talking about … it
takes time to accept something that changes the very foundations of your
life. Jesus allowed the woman time to
ask questions, and to put the pieces together for herself. Just as Jesus didn’t get immediate
results, so too, with us, sharing the Gospel will not always have immediate
results. When you ask people to let
Jesus change their lives, give them time to weigh the matter.
PRAY
TO GOD ABOUT YOUR FRIEND!
Last
Saturday evening, I was getting ready for Mass and I saw a man who I have
invited several times to live a Cursillo Weekend … he had not yet taken
Jesus up on that opportunity. I posed
the question, “Would you care to live the Cursillo Weekend coming up in
January?” He responded that he
does indeed want to make the Weekend, and he said that he was happy that I
asked him. In this event, I was reminded
that the results of evangelization take time.
Now
is the time to be praying to God about that friend you have been wanting to
invite to Cursillo … to Christ …
We ALL have the responsibility through our Baptism to evangelize the
whole world … and it starts in our own parishes … it starts now!
· Three Day Weekends ...
Ø Upcoming
Cursillo Weekends (St.
Mary School,
David City, NE):
U
Men’s
– January 11 - 14, 2007; Coordinator – Mark Pribyl
U
Women’s
– January 18-21, 2007; Coordinator – Annette Wemhoff
Just
a reminder … Because of
the increasing costs of Cursillo supplies [e.g., crucifixes, Pilgrim’s
Guides, booklets (such as “Cursillo
– What Is It?”, “Sponsor’s
Booklet”, “Let’s
Keep the Fourth Day Simple”), table supplies, etc.], the registration
fee requested when an application is submitted was increased to $15.00 (the previous fee was
$10.00).
**************
Building the Kingdom of God
… Cursillo style!
(thoughts from Mark Pribyl, Three Day
Cursillo Chairperson)
My Cursillo Weekend
taught me many things, but there was one message that was especially clear
… God is counting on me and I am
counting on Him. God is
counting on me to pass on to those around me the love that is Christ.
And I am counting on Him, so that I might be able to do this in spite of
my weaknesses.
We are called to give to others what has been given to us as a gift from
God. And that gift? Christ returned back to God the Father the
love He had for Him … the love He had been given … He returned love
for Love. In giving of ourselves
unselfishly to our brothers and sisters, they, too, sense God’s love, and
it changes their lives, as well as ours.
Using the make a friend, be a friend, and bring that friend to
Christ approach that is given to us through Cursillo, we can
make new friends, even as we
share our joys and trials … share our lives … with present friends, and even at
times, as we rekindle old
friendships. This approach is for a
lifetime … and in every case, we are building up the Kingdom of God
in befriending others.
How many times have I, like Simon of Cyrene, been asked to help someone carry
his/her cross and said no for fear it would be too heavy, using the excuse that
it isn't my cross anyway? Unfortunately,
there have even been times that I didn't help my brothers or sisters because I
felt that they were getting just what they deserved … so I ignored their
pleas for help. Another reason I
haven’t been able to turn my cheek was my inability to forgive when at
some point in my life an injustice was done to me. Unfortunately, none of
these attitudes does a thing to build up the Kingdom of God.
Jesus says, "Give and it will be given to you". If I believe this, then why on so many
occasions do I look at my situation and say it is not possible to love
my neighbor as God loves me? Why
can I not give without counting the cost?
The trip to the Regional Encounter in Fairmont, MN,
took around 7 hours. My wife and I made
the trip with some good friends and what a great trip! I laughed, I cried, I shared, I listened
… seven hours seemed like one …
Even Jesus Himself, while here on earth, had good friends … He shared much with Peter, James and
John. And since Jesus is the Good
Teacher, His witness in forming and maintaining friendships should
be ours as well.
One of the things Jesus taught was Love, not war. What a concept and how fitting for our
times! Friendship not fighting …
tolerance not revenge … forgiveness not hatred. Unfortunately, sometimes that’s easier
said than done.
To build up God’s Kingdom, we make friends and live in friendship …
I have had many friendships in my life, some brief and others long lasting.
But it is always a joy to make a new friend, and it is an even greater joy to
see that friend come a little closer to Christ … in friendship …
Take a chance … step out of your comfort zone and make a new friend! Jesus says, "What you do to the least of
My brothers and My sisters, you do to Me" … Christ is Counting on you...
Are you counting on Christ?
********************
·
Postcursillo ...
U The Hastings/Holdrege/Minden Ultreya
Center has decided to begin holding its monthly Ultreya at All
Saints’ Parish Hall in Holdrege on the 2nd Sunday of each
month beginning at 3:30 p.m. The next
Ultreya will be on Sunday, November 12, 2006.
Myron Wendland was selected as the new Ultreya Center Representative.
U In order to better reflect coverage area,
the McCook Ultreya Center,
which includes all of southwestern Nebraska
(McCook, Arapahoe, Imperial, Grant, etc.), is being renamed the Southwestern
Nebraska Ultreya Center.
U Ultreya (Onward!!) is a vital part of
persevering in the Fourth Day. What can you
do to help encourage fellow cursillistas to continue to live lives of
holiness(piety)/ formation(study)/action(evangelization), and how might you
benefit in the process.
·
Other
News ...
Fourth Dayers are requesting
that cursillistas who send emails to one another include the word “Cursillo” in the
subject line so that others might recognize the connection with Cursillo. It is sometimes difficult to identify email
addresses with persons we know, and this will help the receiver know that it is
safe to open the email.
The Secretariat will be
electing a new Lay Director and Treasurer in the coming months. Each is a three-year term. Interested persons who are active in SOL,
Group Reunion and Ultreya are eligible.
If you are interested in being considered for one of these positions,
please contact a member of the Secretariat.
From the Lay Director ...
Yesterday (October 15, 2006), the Gospel reading (Mark
10:17-30) was the story of the rich young man who wanted to know how he might
inherit eternal life. You will recall
that Jesus responds by telling him that he needs to observe the commandments,
and the young man replies that he has done so since his youth. So, Jesus continued with the real challenge
(you have to be careful what you ask for) … “…
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one
thing. Go, sell what you have, and give
to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow
Me.’”
We are told that the young man was good … And he had such a desire to grow … in
His relationship with God … in knowing God … and in doing
God’s work. Sounds like Cursillo
… he wanted to grow in holiness/piety … and he wanted to know our
Lord better, that he might be more like Him (he wanted to grow in
formation/study) … And he had the
desire for eternal life … and
doing the work of evangelization/action would have been a means of working
toward that goal himself, even as he was bringing others along (to the Kingdom)
with him ... As I was thinking about the
words of the Gospel, the thought occurred to me, “I wonder what that
young man’s plan of evangelization was last week, and if he carried it
out … I wonder what his plan will be for this week, given the challenges
Jesus presented him with …”.
I was thinking what his life would have been like if he had had the gift
of Cursillo to help him grow in his spiritual life.
In a homily on this Gospel reading, I once heard a priest
talk about the challenges given to this young man. We sometimes think of there being only two
demands made of the young man: (1) that he faithfully observe the commandments,
and (2) that he give away what he had (which was a lot). However, this particular priest said that in
reality, there were four challenges, and the young man was only able to meet
the first: (1) faithfully observe the
commandments, (2) sell what he had, (3) give the proceeds to the poor, and (4)
finally, follow Jesus. Each step is a
progressive growth in piety/holiness, study/formation, and
action/evangelization. It would take a
lot for the young man to sell all that he had, since his holdings were
extensive … what do we hold onto that keeps us from advancing
spiritually? And even if he could make
the decision to sell what he had, would he be able to give it all away …
to the poor, no less … to people he likely didn’t know? And then, if he was able to get past that
hurdle, would he be able to make the decision to step completely out of his
comfort zone and follow Christ … having nothing, knowing nothing, and
likely being thought absolutely out of his mind? Each step would have been a progression in
turning his will and his life over to God.
The rich young man probably kind of regretted asking the question in the
first place … It’s like that
sometimes when we pray … God gives us a really good answer … He
tells us how to get to heaven …
But we don’t much like the path we would be required to trod
…
In Sunday’s homily, our pastor encouraged us not to
look at what we would be giving up, but instead, to focus on the possibilities
that are created. He encouraged all of
us to “Let go and let God” …
And it is in doing just that … in trusting God and stepping out in
faith … that we would find true joy and fulfillment … that which
doesn’t come from things … possessions … but rather that
which comes from following our Lord and embracing His way of life and
love. It is exciting to grow in our
faith and to see others do so as well.
Our pastor asked us to think about what the outcome might have been had
Paul not decided to change after his conversion experience in Damascus
… What if Paul had focused on what
he was losing, instead of what possibilities lay ahead of him?
I started thinking about Paul’s journey …
what if Paul had thrown in the towel when he was met with utter failure as he
tried to preach in Damascus, and later in Jerusalem, and they wouldn’t
listen to him (in fact, they were trying to kill him)? And what if Paul hadn’t spent the many
years that he did in Tarsus
… growing in piety/holiness and being formed through study? And what if Barnabas, after many years, had
not gone to Tarsus
to find Paul, so that Paul could be the apostle to the Gentiles? Where would the Church in the world be
today? But God had a plan …
On the last Women’s Cursillo Weekend (August 2006
in Holdrege), in the Evangelization rollo, one of the team members related a
story about the angels who were questioning God about his reliance on man to
build His Kingdom and bring all men and women to salvation, and their lack of
faith that man could do it … When
asked what His back-up plan was, God said, “I don’t have one”
… He’s counting on us!! He has full faith in us … do
we? Will we do our part in carrying out
His plan to bring Christ to the world (at least in those particular
environments in which He put us, in order that we might make a
difference)?
All of this reminds me, too, of Bishop
Bruskewitz’s admonition to the women at the silent retreat in Waverly
last December. During the homily at the
closing Mass, Bishop Bruskewitz talked about the interlude between the
angel’s invitation to the Blessed Mother to be the Mother of God and her
response … “… We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of
compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us. The
price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if
you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we
die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled
to life.” The reading goes on to tell of all mankind begging her to
respond in the affirmative … As
Bishop Bruskewitz was praying/reading St. Bernard of Clairveax’s words,
and again yesterday as I reflected on Paul’s response, I wondered,
“Who is waiting for my ‘yes’?” Who is waiting for
yours?
Let’s not let Him pass us by without responding
… respond when you are invited (as was the rich young man … as was
St. Paul … as was our Blessed Mother) … choose to follow Him
… and invite others to do the same … May we respond in that
way in which He is inviting us, and may we rely on His grace to bring that
response to fruition …
Christ is counting on you … there is NO back-up
plan!!! Invite a friend to encounter Him in daily life; and if it be
God’s plan, invite someone to encounter Him during Three Days in January
in David City … you can count on Him to help with the response of those
you invite … He just needs you to extend the invitation
… De Colores!!
…………………… Kathy Springer
RSVP today
…
Lord, I want to do Your will …
From the Spiritual Advisor ...
Each of the four Gospels records Jesus calling the
Twelve Apostles. In Matthew and Mark,
Jesus says: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
(Mt 4:19; Mk 1:17) In Luke, Jesus
instructs Peter to “put out into deep water and lower your nets for a
catch. … do not be afraid. From
now on, you will be catching men.” (Lk 5:4,10). In John, two disciples of John the Baptist
ask Jesus: “Rabbi, where are You staying?” and Jesus responds: “Come and see.” (Jn
1:38-39). Jesus invited the Apostles to
follow Him … to come and see where He lived and to put out into the deep
for a catch … to catch men …
As followers of Jesus, we too, must invite others to
follow Jesus. Jesus talked about a great
harvest and the need for workers to gather the harvest. To explain the need for workers, Jesus told
the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Mt 20:1-16), where the owner of
the vineyard went out at various times of the day to invite persons to work in
the vineyard. There was much work to do,
so, the owner kept looking for laborers.
Extending an invitation is like the farmer sowing the
seed … those who hear the invitation will respond in different ways. Some of the seed fell on good ground, some on
rocky ground, some on shallow soil, and some of the seed was eaten by the
birds. Each of us must individually ask
ourselves, what type of soil am I? How
do I receive God’s Word … His invitation?
But being good ground is not enough. We should also remember that, like the
farmer, we must sow the seed … we must extend the invitation. And we have to keep in mind that extending an
invitation is not a guarantee of acceptance … but that doesn’t
matter. Mother Teresa often said
“we are not called to be successful … we are called to be
faithful.” What farmer would not
want 100% of the seed to produce a good yield?
But the farmer’s responsibility is simply to sow the seed and tend
it, not to determine the yield. Jesus
never worried about numbers … neither did Mother Teresa … so why do
we?
As cursillistas, we were invited by our Lord through
another cursillista to live the Three Day Weekend. Now, we need to invite others to experience
the Three Day Weekend … to better encounter self, Jesus, and others. Perhaps you have tried to invite persons in
the past, and they have not responded, or they gave excuses why they could not
live the Weekend. Perhaps you
don’t think that you should invite anyone, because you don’t speak
well, or you are too young or too old.
Remember that Christ is counting on you.
He wants you to be His hands, His feet, His voice. He wants you to reflect on the persons who
are around you, and pray for the grace to know which ones He wants you to
invite to live the January Weekends in David City. Then pray for those persons by name, and
ultimately, invite them. Be persistent
… in a loving way, and a way which respects the other’s freedom
… but do invite.
Jesus teaches us about persistence. He preached the parable about the man who
sought three loaves of bread at midnight to give to a friend who had arrived
from a long journey (Lk 11:5-8). This
man knew just which friend to ask for what was needed … and he was
persistent enough to ask until he received that which was requested. Similarly, Jesus told the parable about the
persistent widow (Lk 18:1-8), who kept asking for a decision in her favor, and finally
it was granted because of her perseverance.
We need to be persistent in asking … in a gentle, loving, yet
persistent way. And remember, always
talk to God about your friend before you talk to your friend about God …
let God prepare the soil of your friend’s heart. De
Colores!! …………………Fr. Mark Seiker
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