We are Cursillo! Let’s use it, Let’s share it

From Our Spiritual Advisor:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,  

May the Lord bless you hugely with His peace.  In this jubilee year of HOPE, we tap our many blessings received from the powerful gift of Cursillo.  We need to claim those blessings because we need them.  In many situations, whether in our own lives or in the lives of our loved ones or in the lives of strangers to us, we find a definite challenge to the new life our Lord calls us to live.  We might find unrest in our own souls, minds and bodies, little areas of darkness that nag at us and whisper that we are on the wrong path.  We might experience sadness related to our own struggles and apparent losses or are sad because these struggles are in the lives of our loved ones.  No matter the source, we can experience challenges, sufferings, struggles that can seem to make us want to give up, just quit the journey of Faith, or make us, briefly, ponder, “Is my Cursillo connection not real?”  This is when we wake up and realize, “No, I am on this journey of the Jubilee Year of Hope, and I am going to imitate St. Paul who told his friends, ‘I add my sufferings to fulfill those of Christ.’”  We are Cursillo!  We are a people of Hope; let’s use it; let’s share it.  

As we walk this Jubilee path of hope I offer some tidbits from St. Luke’s Gospel on the Sundays of August.  These words of Jesus really struck me as a Cursillista called to live a life full of HOPE.  May they touch you deeply. 

August 3 - One’s life does not consist of possessions.  Do not store up treasures for yourselves; rather, be rich in what matters to God.   

August 10 - An inexhaustible treasure in heaven where no thief can reach nor moth destroy is waiting for you.  Be careful; where your treasure is there also will your heart be.   

August 17 - Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing!  Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.” 

August 24 - Jesus said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.”  You will stand outside the door knocking and saying, “Lord, open the door for us.”  He will say to you in reply, “I do not know where you are from.  Depart from Me…” 

August 31 - Jesus told the crowd, “When you hold a party or have a special meal, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”  Sisters and brothers, we are called to hope in the One who is extravagant and generous in love.  Let’s cling to Him and follow His example.   

De Colores!  

Fr. Jim Morman

Time, Season and Change

From Our Lay Directors

Dear Friends in Christ, 

3 Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. 

For those of you who do not know us, we thought we would start with introductions, as Troy and I have recently taken over as Lay Directors of the Diocese of Toledo Cursillo Movement for John Lyons and Kathy Otermat; 

Troy Peebles lived Cursillo #195 in Carey, OH. Troy goes to Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Assumption, OH and lives in Lyons, OH. He is widowed as he lost his beautiful, loving, devoted wife Connie, also a Cursillista, to cancer several years ago. He and Connie had (2) children together who both live fairly close to Troy. Hello, 

I’m Karen Fritsch. I lived Cursillo #264 in Fremont at the Pines, in the fall of 2016. I belong to All Saints Catholic in New Reigel, OH and live outside of Tiffin, OH. I am widowed and had the blessing of being married to the late John Reinhart, a Cursillista, for almost (12) years. And God continues to send me blessings, as I am newly (1 1⁄2 years) married to Don Fritsch. I have a daughter in Columbus, OH and (4) stepchildren.

This verse from Ecclesiastes seems perfect for this time and season in Cursillo, as John and Kathy, pass the torch so to speak, to Troy and me. We simply ask for your patience and prayers as we discern and ask God’s wisdom, guidance and grace as we take on this new roll in the Cursillo movement. 

Other changes, like finding a new facility for our weekends, fit right into this theme, also. We have visited many places during our search for a “home” for Cursillo. One of the biggest factors though is remembering it doesn’t matter where we have our weekends, but that we stay centered on the movement of Christ in our lives and how we can continue to bring others into a deeper relationship with our Savior and Lord. The facility and set up may be different, but the presence of the Holy Spirit is with us no matter where we live the weekends! 

We continue to keep all of you in prayer, with the busy summer months in full swing. May all seasons of time and change find all our hearts open to Christ, His will for us and how we can continue to build His kingdom. 

Blessings,

KarenFritsch (kittyrg1967@gmail.com) Troy Peebles (tpeebles411@yahoo.com) 

What is Saint Luke Telling Us?

From Our Spiritual Advisor:

Most of the special celebrations of the Church year are over and done. The Advent wreath is on a high shelf in the sacristy with a dust cover over it. Margarine tubs with ashes are put away in a drawer. The Paschal candle has been dethroned from its prominent place and exiled to the sacristy, where it will help welcome new baby members into the light of Christ.

However, Ordinary Time is special in its own subdued way. I’ve always told kids that “ordinary” doesn’t mean “boring” or “useless.” The Church is simply recognizing our human condition. We can’t permanently exist at a high emotional pitch. “It can’t be your birthday every day,” I would tell them. “Everybody would get sick of ice cream and cake. They’d get tired of having to buy you presents.” To which kids always say that it would be OK to have their birthday every day, and as far as all that ice cream and cake – bring it on!

They’ll find out differently when they get older. We need quiet time. We need an opportunity to relax and reflect on who we are in God’s plan, what our calling is in our families, in our towns and neighborhoods, and what our calling is in our Church.

Each year the Church reads a different Gospel to us to help us reflect and come to know ourselves better in our relationship to God. All summer and fall we’ll read from Saint Luke, with the exception of the feast of the Holy Cross (September 14) and All Souls Day (November 2). What will Saint Luke show us?

One of Saint Luke’s major themes is that the people who don’t count for very much in society’s eyes are important in God’s eyes. He shows us how important the poor are in Jesus’ eyes. His mother and foster father hail from backwoods Nazareth. Shepherds, the migrant farm workers of Jesus’ day, hail His birth. At the beginning of His preaching career, He quotes Isaiah 61: 1-2 (“He has sent me to bring good news to the poor”) to explain who He is. A few chapters later He says “Blessed are you poor.” In the same talk, he bursts the bubble of our romantic notions by saying “Woe to you rich.” You won’t find a PhD or a CEO among His disciples; no, He chose hard-working fishermen with the smell of fish on their hands and clothes, and a despised tax-collector. And even these people from the lower classes He told that they would have to renounce everything to be His followers.

Saint Luke’s Gospel is the gospel of prayer. Jesus prays before every major decision: at His baptism; at the choosing of apostles; before He asks “Who do people say I am?” and gets Peter’s answer; before He teaches the Our Father; and in Gethsemane when His enemies are coming after Him, prepared to arrest Him, put Him on trial, and sentence Him to death.

Saint Luke’s Gospel is the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. Mary, Elizabeth and the unborn John the Baptist are filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary conceives Jesus through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells His disciples that if they know how to give their children good things, “how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13) Acts of the Apostles is St. Luke’s “volume 2.” A constant theme in Acts is how the Holy Spirit guides and strengthens the Church in a hostile world.

Women are quite prominent in St. Luke’s Gospel. Mary, His Mother, is referred to frequently. Jesus heals women; He is close friends with another Mary and her sister Martha; He sees a woman putting a few pennies in the Temple treasury and bases a lesson on her; women discover that His tomb is empty and bring the good news of resurrection to His male disciples.

We will also hear stories of forgiveness. Jesus forgives a sinful woman at a banquet in a Pharisee’s home. He takes Matthew the tax collector into His inner circle of apostles. He meets Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, receives his words of repentance, and forgives him for all his crooked dealings and extortion. When the good and holy people raise the objection, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them,” Jesus tells three stories to show God’s attitude toward sinners: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the two lost sons. (Yes, both sons were lost to the father. One went off to a far country to live “la vida loca”; the other retreated behind a wall of resentment and bitterness.) The father welcomed both back. The younger son accepted the father’s welcome; what did the older son do? Jesus leaves the story hanging. We aren’t told if he went into the party or not. I think Jesus wants us to examine our hearts about our own self-righteousness and refusal to forgive.

And this summer, we will hear a lot about Jesus sitting down at a meal. These stories begin with the meal at Simon the Pharisee’s home, where the local lady of the evening bursts in because she sees in Jesus a chance to be rid of the sin that is eating her alive. The “meal” stories then build on one another until we arrive at the Last Supper, the meal at Emmaus, and the final meal with the disciples in the Upper Room.

What does Jesus want you and me to learn this summer. First of all, He wants us to learn about poverty and materialism. He wants us to ask what we put ahead of God, and what we put ahead of God’s people. It’s a pretty uncomfortable question. He wants us to ask about how much effort we devote to prayer. If we use words that come from the great masters of prayer, like the Our Father or Hail Mary, are we just mouthing words, or are we lifting up our hearts to God? Do you and I acknowledge our need for the Holy Spirit, or do we insist on bulldozing our own way through life’s problems? Do we realize the joy that can be ours in the life of the Holy Spirit? Is there anyone in our life whom we refuse to forgive? Do you and I admit that we need to be forgiven? Do we treasure our welcome to the Lord’s table, and do we welcome other people to that banquet above all others?

I’ve met so many faith-filled, Spirit-filled people through Cursillo. Many of them hardly need to answer these questions. But a review of our lives never hurts. There is always room for growth.

De colores!

Fr. Tom