In attesa di avere la traduzione in italiano pubblichiamo la lettera del mese di Maggio in inglese

Dear Friends, 01may09eng


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

I. Current Events

We hope you all spent a happy Easter in the company of all your loved ones. The Executive Committee of the OMCC continues to work on the organization of the IV World Ultreya with great love and enthusiasm. We ask that you continue to extend the invitation in your communities. Let us not forget that this is a unique opportunity to be able to live and share what is fundamental to being Christian with friends from the whole world. It is only the fourth World Ultreya in the history of the Cursillos of Christianity Movement which is present in more and more countries of the world every day. Let us unite at this great event to give thanks to God for this great Charism that the Holy Spirit gave to the world that we might know the love and friendship of God in Christ Jesus.

During the month of April, Juan Ruiz also had the opportunity to participate in a Cursillo of Cursillos in Managua Nicaragua, which was organized by the National Secretariat of Nicaragua. About 90 Cursillistas from four Dioceses of Nicaragua attended this Cursillo de Cursillos, including Mons. Carlos Avilés, Nicaragua National Secretariat Spiritual Advisor, Mons. Jorge Solórzano, Bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Mons. Enrique Herrera, Bishop of the Diocese of Jinotega.

Like any other Cursillo de Cursillos or workshop that we had the opportunity to participate, it was a very "close moment with Christ" being able to witness, live and in person, the simplicity of this beautiful Charism and how, in a very normal and natural way, it travels from the skin to the last corner of the heart of men. Thank God for this Charism and for giving us the opportunity to be instruments to present it to the world.


II. Study of the Charism: Part VIII

Methodology I: PRECURSILLO

"Come see for yourself" (Jn 1, 46)

The Cursillo Movement is life alive.


It does not fit into a definition. It has no concrete "framework" in which it can squarely fit because to labor with the freedom of the children of God, from the humility of service for love of God, has no "fences" that limit it, no more than it can be bound by traditional forms of "offers of apostolic perfection", (which has never interested those who are far away), and much less "caged".

The Cursillo Movement seeks an effective approach to all persons, especially men and women who believe they have no faith in Jesus Christ or who don't know if they have faith in Jesus Christ. It is an effective approach to those places where these men and women live their lives so that in their "place" they might hear and know that God lives and loves them. And also that Jesus Christ can solve all their problems.

Christ, in order to reach men, did not become a structure. He became man, a person, and he lives life on the street, and in the environments.

Cursillos of Christianity is defined as a movement, that by means of a unique method of friendship, seeks, from within the Church, that the realities of Christian life might be lived in the uniqueness, the originality and the creativity of each person.

The word METHOD comes from two Greek words - meta (beyond) and odos (path), and literally means a path to go beyond. This refers to a means to an end. In its original meaning this word tells us that the path leads to a place.

The Method of Cursillos, the path Cursillos follow to arrive at the goal, is the friendship between people. There is nothing more. There is no room for other "fantasies". It consists in making friends, being friends and making those friends, friends of Christ.

Cursillos seeks, through friendship, to achieve the specific purpose of bringing the Good News that God, in Christ, is alive and loves us, to the most people possible, with special emphasis on those far away. It is a suggestion to all to have the personal experience of this proclamation. It is an invitation to all of Phillip's proposal "Come see for yourself" (Jn 1, 46). Cursillos proposes that we make the journey in the company of friends.

In this Cursillo Method of living and igniting the fire of friendship, three phases or basic elements are defined: Precursillo, Cursillo and Postcursillo.

These three elements, that are like the levels that are established in the relationship of friendship between people, unite with each other closely, like a circular motion. This ring of unison, is caused because the precursillo generates the cursillo, the cursillo generates the postcursillo and, in turn, the postcursillo generates the precursillo.

The intimate union of the Precursillo with the other two elements of the method in which the Cursillo is the purpose of precursillo and, the precursillo in turn, is the work and objective of the postcursillo. Each of the three have equal importance within the method, but neither should there be any comparison made or given as to the importance between them.

The PRECURSILLO is the first phase in the Cursillo Movement and corresponds to the sphere of our environment or of others. It is an Apostolic plan with the sole objective of the effectiveness in souls.

Apostle means sent with a mission and the apostolic mission of PRECURSILLO is to witness to others of what one has come to discover: the Good News of God's love. The effectiveness in souls makes reference as opposed to effectiveness measurable in work, financially or physically.

This element of time or space in the Method of Cursillos, the precursillo, includes a process of selection and preparation, with the holy intention that the workshop will produce a good and bountiful harvest. A good and abundant harvest depends, first of all, on the plans of God and the freedom of each child of God. But the work of the sower is of crucial importance. The sower has to prepare the ground and take care of the seed. The planted seed can only be born and grow with life, if it falls on fertile ground.

When speaking of the Precursillo we normally think of those people who can, who should not or who should, live the experience of the three-day cursillo. But the first point of reflection in the Precursillo is directed to those who invite others (the sponsors) to live the experience of the cursillo and the group of leaders who will serve in the Cursillo. The testimony of those who invite and the work of the leaders of the cursillo are like that of the sower.

The testimony of the sponsors and the preparation of leaders who organize it, are essentially important in the Precursillo. Both the sponsors and leaders have a strong belief that the cursillo aims to spread the joy of faith. But we know that you can only infect others with a faith that is lived, because no one gives what they don't have, and furthermore "whomsoever is not convinced has already been defeated." (Eduardo Bonnin). This preparation is based, essentially, on prayer and study.

The sponsor and the leader must be Christians, thus making Christ present.
The sponsor and the leader, if they intend to build Christianity, need to be apostles. We become apostles by "making Christ's redemptive longing present with our life. And by giving our lives so that Christ might live, by Grace, in all". An apostle should do somersaults to, "Give to Christ, honestly, all that one has, as you come to have it." To do this we must know Jesus in person. Friendship, to truly know another, requires closeness. "Prayer is to allow God to talk," Eduardo Bonnin would say repeatedly.

The apostles were with Jesus, that is, shared their life with Him and thus learned not only the behavior, but above all, who He really was.

The sponsor and the leader of Cursillo must have knowledge of the Gospel, first, due to the fact it is the principal witness of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. The sponsor and the leader of cursillo must be aware also of the Charism of the Movement by which we have chosen to follow Jesus Christ.

Only then, with this knowledge, can "the" truth be talked about of the teachings we have received.

With this knowledge the Good News can be announced, creating a hunger for God in all people, especially those far away.

With this knowledge the friendship of the Group Reunion and the Ultreya Group can be stirred up in all people, especially those far away.

The Group of Leaders during the precursillo, also has the mission of making the selection of people who can go to the Cursillo.

It should be assumed that any man or woman, under normal circumstances, can live the experience of a cursillo. There is no discrimination of any type: not of age or social class or situation, or profession, not ... OF ANY KIND. The call is universal. At the banquet of the Kingdom, no one is excluded. The Good are called to grow in His goodness and the sinners are called to abandon the wide roads and to find the narrow path that leads to life.

However, it is always necessary to choose the best, because we should consider it wrong to leave good enough alone if it could be better.

Upon selecting individuals who are invited to live the three days of Cursillo, it must be taken into account that the person have sufficient personality to encounter their self. Therefore, in this case, men and women should attend who have character and resolve, these are the vertebrae and locomotives in Cursillo language.

Upon selecting individuals who are invited to live the three days of Cursillo, it must be taken into account that that person finds their self in the circumstances for the triple encounter with himself, with Christ and their brothers and sisters. Therefore, in this case, men and women should attend who are in situations of uniqueness as a person. Their situation should be of freedom in terms of time and space, to maintain a relationship with God face to face.

Upon selecting individuals who are invited to live the three days of Cursillo, they should be told the truth through gestures of friendship. Thus, in this case, men and women should attend who are hungry to satisfy their concerns.

Upon selecting individuals who are invited to live the three days of Cursillo it must be taken into account that a person, once having lived the message of the Cursillo, be suitable for communicating it to others. Therefore, in this case, men and women should attend who are likely to be apostles.

The precursillo should not be the proclamation of the Good News as a theory. The objective of the Precursillo is not to "take" someone to a Cursillo, but bring someone to a Cursillo so that they can come to "know" Jesus Christ.

The time of Precursillo should be lived by the sponsor and the leader as Philip lived it immediately after Jesus invited him to follow him. The first thing Philip thinks of is to share the gift he was given with his friend Nathanael. He sought him and told him: "We've found Jesus". Since Nathanael certainly did not understand clearly, Philip does not hesitate and with the assurance of friendship, takes his friend and tells him: "Come see for yourself." The friendship between the two provided Nathanael his encounter with the Son of God and he was able to see the love he has for us.



As always, we close, begging the Lord to keep us united in his love and friendship.

De Colores,

Juan Ruiz
President - OMCC


III. A note from our Spiritual Advisor

"Make a friend, be a friend, bring the friend to Christ". We have heard this repeated so often that the phrase seems to be merely a routine part of the lexicon of Cursillo jargon. That this is a constituent part of the Cursillo method can be illustrated by Jesus' invitation in John 1, "Come and see" (echoed by the Samaritan woman in John 4) and by the "two Philips" (John 1 and Acts 8).

The two disciples of John the Baptist (who had told them "Look. There is the Lamb of God") had not expected to be engaged in conversation by Jesus, at least not so soon. Jesus, sensitive to their inquisitiveness invited them to "Come and see" (John 1:39). Andrew, impressed by this encounter into which he was invited to share friendship with Jesus, then himself invites Simon Peter, his brother-"We have found the Messiah" (John 1:41). Andrew, in effect invited Peter to "Come and see". Relationship with Jesus is a necessary component of discipleship. Friendship is the heart of relationship.

The apostle Philip, having been invited by Jesus to friendship and discipleship (John 1:43) and aware of his friend Nathanael's expectation of the Messiah, excitedly declared "We have found the one Moses spoke of…" (John 1:45). In response to Nathanael's sarcastic reaction, the undeterred Philip invites him to "Come and see" (John 1:46). Jesus' invitation to friendship and discipleship was gaining momentum. Jesus loved them as they were, but called them, through friendship to be more! Jesus' communion with the Father was bearing fruit as he "studies his environment", his "movable square meter" in selecting, calling, and preparing his "candidates". He then empowered them to do likewise.

Throughout his ministry Jesus sought out the "outsiders" the "alejados"(the cast-offs, the marginalized, the "unchurched") who lived on the periphery of social and religious life. Jesus, looking beyond the obviously sinful state of the Samaritan woman (Jacob's well was where women would pick up travelers) saw a "diamond in the rough". (Transposed into today's world, she would be a truck-stop "groupie"). Jesus' loving demeanor overcame his identification of her sins. Affirmed in her personhood, she invites the townspeople to "Come and see" (John 4:29). Impressed by the woman's conversion, "many Samaritans believed in Jesus on the strength of the woman's word of testimony" (John 4:39). The outsider had become the inviting "apostle". Having had their own encounter, they, too, were ready to return to evangelize their environments. "No longer does our faith depend on your story-We have heard for ourselves" (John 4:42).

Philip the deacon is another powerful example of "Precursillo" at work (He is clearly not the model for Postcursillo, for reasons which are obvious in Acts 8:39). My own sponsor, Bill, "spoke to God about man…" and was obedient to the answer to his prayer "To whom will you send me?" were it not for his fidelity to the Lord to invite an "outsider" (me) after much prayer, I would be neither a cursillista nor a priest today.

Philip, too, was obedient to the angel who invited him to go on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza (Acts 8:26) and to the Spirit who instructed him to "go and catch up with that carriage" (Acts 8:29). Philip discerned the Ethiopian's restlessness and sense of incompleteness (Acts 8:30-31), he accompanied and befriended the man (Acts 831), and he shares what he, Philip, has discovered (Acts 8:35). Because Philip had respected the "candidates" freedom, the Spirit used him in order to elicit a request to "go deeper", literally (Acts 8:37). We can assume that the Ethiopian, returning to his home environment invited others to discover what he had discovered.

All three phases of the Cursillo Movement developed in order to promote and facilitate friendship, by means of the "three encounters"- (oneself, God and others). A successful Precursillo implies a healthy Postcursillo. The accompaniment in friendship does not end with the three Day Cursillo. Otherwise, it would constitute proof that the friendship was superficial and had been instrumentalized. Using "friendships" in order to increase the "body count" of those whom one sponsors would undermine and devalue the quality of the friendship. We need also to remember that "Microwave friendships" are seriously deficient. Friendship is a journey which must evolve naturally. There is no timetable for friendship-it may take years to "bear fruit".

Interpersonal relationships are of the essence of the Christian life. As Juan Ruiz explained, the Cursillo method keeps us faithful to our identity, to our charism, and leads us further along on the journey, as we hear in the Spanish song "Somos un pueblo que camina…" (We are a people who journey…" Michael Schooyans, of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has said "We don't become ourselves without others helping us to open up to ourselves. Without a community of friends, the encounter with oneself, necessary for the other two encounters, would be impoverished.

The evening following this writing I will welcome our auxiliary bishop, Felipe Estevez, in conferring Confirmation, in our parish, St. John the Apostle. "Dissecting" the word "confirmation", we notice the prefix "con", denoting community, and the root "firm", indicating strength. Our capacity to witness to our friendship with the Lord is strengthened, with, in, and through the community. Relationships are of utmost importance. The Cursillo method is a particular means of inviting us, through friendship, into discipleship.

One who accompanies a candidate as a sponsor in the Christian Initiation of Adults, should also be a beneficiary of the dynamic of the process, in being challenged to be more authentic as a friend and as a disciple. Lent, which developed historically as a retreat for the "elect" calls us as a community of faith, through prayer and fasting, to grow in solidarity with those who are to be sacramentally initiated. The byproduct of this solidarity is that we ourselves are challenged to be more authentic in renewing our baptismal promises.

Precursillo parallels Lent. As we accompany our candidates in friendship as sponsors, we, too, are renewed in our capacity to grow more deeply in each of the three encounters. Sponsorship should draw forth from us a greater capacity to live authentically as cursillistas. Personal witness, a coherence between what we promote and what we live, is essential in Cursillo. The most important ingredient of this witness is to live in authentic friendship with Christ-"I no longer speak of you as servants…instead, I call you friends" (John 15:15).

Having "spoken to God about the person", by which criteria do we discern whom should be sponsored? I believe that two fundamental questions need to be answered (barring any canonical or ecclesiastical impediments):
1) Does this person currently have the capacity to discover and live the three encounters?
2) Does this person have the capacity for evangelical friendship in order to "infect" others with the friendship to be discovered in the three encounters?

Finally, we must remind ourselves that Palanca is equally vital for Precursillo (and postcursillo) as it is for the Three Day Cursillo. We are called to fast, pray, and sacrifice for the candidate and for our willingness to truly accompany the candidate in sincere Christian friendship. We likewise offer palanca that the life of the community of cursillistas may truly be authentic examples and catalysts of friendship, as was said of the first Christians, "See how they love one another!"

Friendship, patience, authenticity, commitment, and palanca-without them there is no Precursillo worthy of the name.


De Colores,

Fr. David Smith
Spiritual Advisor - OMCC