SAN BERNARDINO DIOCESE ENGLISH CURSILLO

Dear Fellow Cursillistas,

I was truly blessed to attend the National Encounter in Kansas City, Missouri, on July 29 through August 1, 2010.  It was an honor to have the Bishops from Seattle, Kansas City-St Joseph and Kansas Dioceses at Mass.  It was my great joy to see the great numbers of Cursillista priests at the Masses, for confessions and attending the workshops.

I listened to Fr. David Knight give a talk on Thursday night.  He and all the Rollos  were inviting us to become Christ like and to see Christ in the person you speaking with or passing by.  Fr. Knight gave some tips on how to stay focused. This is my summary of his “Do It!” list based on his tips:

1.  I start my day with prayer and pray all day!

2.  I put the Bible on my pillow.  Never go to sleep until I read one

     sentence from the Bible

3.  I ask: ‘Does this bear witness to Christ?’

4.  Everything I see good in someone I tell them.

5.  I notice what needs to changed – I do what I can.

I left the Encounter with the message that everything is started with prayer.  The emphasis is everything comes from God not us.  Perseverance is another word that comes to my mind.  It would be so easy to give in, give up, etc.  Everything comes in His time not ours.  Communication is so, so important.  In the session groups it was agreed how much we learn by just listening to our fellow cursillistas from all parts of this great nation.  So it isn’t just our Secretariat that we need to communicate with.  It is with other Secretariats that we can broaden our knowledge and strengths in keeping the Movement on track.  The best way to accomplish this is to attend Regional and National Encounters as well as our own Ultreyas and Friendship Grouping.  Not only have I met some wonderful inspirational and joyful people but I am able to learn from their accomplishments as well as failures.  Yes, we still have failures.  Never the less, the Movement is headed in the right direction that Eduardo Bonnin laid out through his encounter with the Holy Spirit with our endeavors to retain the essential methods. 

I will end with a story as I remember from a Rollo.

     A minister went to a local business to make a purchase.  He greeted the owner and told him he missed seeing him on Sunday.  The minister paid with cash and departed with his purchase.  When he got outside he noticed the change in his hand was a quarter too much.  He pondered whether should he go back or just dismiss it as not important enough to bother with.  He took a step forward but he really was concerned even though it seemed trivial.  The minister went back into the store and approached the owner telling him about the quarter too much in his change.  The owner took the quarter saying, “I gave you that quarter to test you.  You almost sold Jesus for a quarter.  Now I know you are truly a man of God and I will see you in Church on Sunday.”

Are you walking with Christ today?  Remember to do palanca for the forth coming Cursillo teams.  We start with prayer!

De Colores!

Dottie Eravi

Dottie Eravi,

Lay Director