ENGLISH Community News

Spiritual Director's Corner

" PALANCA

'At this time, I would like to share some thoughts about palanca. As most of you know, the word palanca is a simple word in as far as what it means. The Spanish word palanca translates to lever in English. A lever is an object used for a distinct purpose and the object might be a plank or a board. There are three things that are required for this object to accomplish its purpose. They are: 1) a thing or person that applies force on one end of the plank; 2) a fixed object usually placed under the center of the plank; and 3) the object that is to be moved and situated at a certain place.

When we ask, or are asked, for palanca for Cursillistas living their Cursillo Weekend, we are asked for prayer in the form of a sacrifice. This form of prayer may be said to serve the same purpose as a lever; that is to say, as a plank. The 3 things needed for this particular plank or lever to fulfill its purpose are: 1) a person who offers up prayer as a sacrifice, and thus applies force on one end; 2) the object positioned at the center of the plank, which by the way is a point where the force is transferred from one end of the plank to the other end. For our purposes we refer to this point of transference as Love. And finally, 3) the object, or more specifically for our illustration, the person or persons that we want to situate in a different place or situation. These persons are the new Cursillistas living their three encounters: with self, Christ, and others, and the team serving on the Cursillo Weekend.

DE COLORES!"

Excerpt from the National newsletter

National Cursillo Newsletter- 2010