COMMON DEFINITION: Judgment is the ability to judge, make a decision, or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely, especially in matters affecting action; good sense; discretion. [1]
1. Judgment consists in trying to have the adequate (gospel) intention and reaction when faced with present circumstances and those that are yet to come.
2. Judgment is refined in shared reflection.
3. Some persons are worried about the “why”; others worry about the “how”. The second can only obey rules, render accounts. The first are able to embody judgments; they can come to understand. Some persons opt for compliance; others decide based on conviction.
4. Whenever a “utopia” dies, orthodoxy is born.
5. To be free is to move beyond the rule to personal discernment.
6. When truths are not alive, they fossilize. Fossilized truths provide a secure point of reference; but they end up colliding with reality or lead to a systematic distortion of reality.
7. Discernment reveals the purpose and determines the means to be used.
8. Discernment prevents the method from stifling the Spirit.
9. Truth is the leaven not the backing pan.
10. There are combustible truths, actual truths and permanent truths (and, the latter are much fewer in number than many people believe).
11. Cursillo tries to place what is true within reach of the near.
12. The two things that make the truth accessible, powerful and effective for Christians are the Gospel and common sense.
13. Judgment is the will to remain balanced in the truth so as to possess it more fully.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. Why is judgment (discernment) so important an element of Cursillo Movement and of life?
2. What are some of the dangers and/or mistakes that occur when a Cursillista lacks judgment (discernment)?
The Spanish word “criterio” is used here: It refers to the ability to judge and discern and translates as “judgment” or formal “discernment”. It includes “common sense”.
[1] The Spanish word “criterio” is used here: It refers to the ability to judge and discern and translates as “judgment” or formal “discernment”. It includes “common sense”.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
SINCERITY
“Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk. It must be a thing of action and sincerity” (1 John 3:18).”
DEFINITION: Sincerity is the quality or state of being sincere; honesty of mind or intention; freedom from simulation, hypocrisy, disguise, or false pretense.
1. To encounter God just as he is, it is necessary to come before him just as we are.
2. Our sincerity is genuine in moments of serenity.
3. Only in intimacy is complete sincerity not excessive.
4. When the past is not integrated, accepted or assimilated, the person distorts his or her vision of what is real, including his/ her own reality.
5. Sincerity is often colored by the subjectivity generated by a lack of communication.
6. Among members of the laity that stand out, we encounter some who are inhibited and some who show off; and both attitudes diminish sincerity.
7. A person needs to give the right measure of his/her self: a gift that will neither disintegrate nor diminish him/her.
8. When appearances take the place of being, the mechanism of sincerity breaks down.
9. Truth is not religion; it is the spiritual dimension of the human person.
OTHER CITATIONS:
• “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Forcing yourself to think happy lies doesn't heal your dreams. Getting to the truth does.” Martha Beck
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
When and with whom do you find it most difficult to be sincere?
Do you believe that there can be a good “Group Reunion” when there is a lack of sincerity in one or more of its members? Why? What are the consequences? Explain your answer.
DEFINITION: Sincerity is the quality or state of being sincere; honesty of mind or intention; freedom from simulation, hypocrisy, disguise, or false pretense.
1. To encounter God just as he is, it is necessary to come before him just as we are.
2. Our sincerity is genuine in moments of serenity.
3. Only in intimacy is complete sincerity not excessive.
4. When the past is not integrated, accepted or assimilated, the person distorts his or her vision of what is real, including his/ her own reality.
5. Sincerity is often colored by the subjectivity generated by a lack of communication.
6. Among members of the laity that stand out, we encounter some who are inhibited and some who show off; and both attitudes diminish sincerity.
7. A person needs to give the right measure of his/her self: a gift that will neither disintegrate nor diminish him/her.
8. When appearances take the place of being, the mechanism of sincerity breaks down.
9. Truth is not religion; it is the spiritual dimension of the human person.
OTHER CITATIONS:
• “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Forcing yourself to think happy lies doesn't heal your dreams. Getting to the truth does.” Martha Beck
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
When and with whom do you find it most difficult to be sincere?
Do you believe that there can be a good “Group Reunion” when there is a lack of sincerity in one or more of its members? Why? What are the consequences? Explain your answer.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
CONVICTION
Definition: A strong persuasion or belief; the state of being convinced. (Merriam-Webster)
1. We are called to perform tasks that require conviction; and what everyone does is push – coerce – to achieve a decision.
2. Some do not believe in the Gospel and others do not believe that it is effective: who disappoints God more?
3. Actually utilized, the ability to be surprised, combined with the capacity for conviction and the ability for decision convey and reveal the measure of the person.
4. Human conviction is centered, unified and intertwined with what is most essential when (one can say): “God loves me in a personal, singular and unique way.”
5. For human beings authentic conviction is not a passing, burdensome or crushing human value.
6. Between those who believe they know and those who know how to believe, the latter are the ones that progress to the complete and thorough fullness of their personhood.
7. The human person yearns for what is fundamental, not so as to dissipate his/her efforts in nonessential behavior, but to sustain and drive daily goals, starting from a firm conviction that is rooted in what is real and what is true.
8. Conviction is the backbone of the clearly articulated knowledge possessed, which allows us to be rooted in reality and to fulfill ourselves in it as a person.
9. Ignorance is a resounding invitation to be light.
10. Truth is what makes one’s motives more profound, more coherent and more alive.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. What do you personally understand it means to be “a person of conviction”?
2. What are we convinced of as Christians?
Based on the ideas listed above: How should our Christian convictions be reflected in the way we live our lives in the “Fourth Day” (Postcursillo) as well as our behavior in the other two phases of the Cursillo Movement – Precursillo and Cursillo?
1. We are called to perform tasks that require conviction; and what everyone does is push – coerce – to achieve a decision.
2. Some do not believe in the Gospel and others do not believe that it is effective: who disappoints God more?
3. Actually utilized, the ability to be surprised, combined with the capacity for conviction and the ability for decision convey and reveal the measure of the person.
4. Human conviction is centered, unified and intertwined with what is most essential when (one can say): “God loves me in a personal, singular and unique way.”
5. For human beings authentic conviction is not a passing, burdensome or crushing human value.
6. Between those who believe they know and those who know how to believe, the latter are the ones that progress to the complete and thorough fullness of their personhood.
7. The human person yearns for what is fundamental, not so as to dissipate his/her efforts in nonessential behavior, but to sustain and drive daily goals, starting from a firm conviction that is rooted in what is real and what is true.
8. Conviction is the backbone of the clearly articulated knowledge possessed, which allows us to be rooted in reality and to fulfill ourselves in it as a person.
9. Ignorance is a resounding invitation to be light.
10. Truth is what makes one’s motives more profound, more coherent and more alive.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. What do you personally understand it means to be “a person of conviction”?
2. What are we convinced of as Christians?
Based on the ideas listed above: How should our Christian convictions be reflected in the way we live our lives in the “Fourth Day” (Postcursillo) as well as our behavior in the other two phases of the Cursillo Movement – Precursillo and Cursillo?
FRIENDSHIP (PART II)
The following phrase sums up Cursillo’s approach to the evangelization of the environments:
"Be a friend, Make a friend, Bring a friend to Christ"
In what way can we be a friend to another?
How do we make someone our friend?
How can we lead someone to Christ?
"Be a friend, Make a friend, Bring a friend to Christ"
In what way can we be a friend to another?
How do we make someone our friend?
How can we lead someone to Christ?
FRIENDSHIP
1. Friendship is the most intense way to live life together.
2. To be a friend is to be able to think one’s life aloud with another.
3. The relationship of friendship is the most genuinely human and genuinely gospel way of entering in communion with another. It consists in communicating with another human being as a person, not because of his concrete qualities or social standing, but because he exists – because he is somebody.
4. Friendship could be summed up in the twofold affirmation:
“I am happy that you exist.”
“The world is more beautiful because you are alive.”
5. Friendship develops by means of a process.
6. Friendship can produce a powerful energy that can move men and women to change their reality.
7. Christian is the simple and definite pleasure of being a friend to the one who is next to me.
8. If a person does not have someone to bear with him, he will not be able to bear life, and he will become unbearable.
9. In order to make friends: first see; make others see; and then get them to look.
10. Cursillo is the vehicle for an experience of identity; a song to life; and a homage to friendship.
11. The key (to friendship) is in a relationship of friendship with oneself.
12. Friendship is creative but never close ended if its natural dynamic to generate more friendship is not excluded.
Group Dynamic: Divide into groups & discuss the members’ understanding of these fundamental notions of Cursillos charism.
Discussion Question: How is (or should) this fundamental aspect of Cursillo’s Charism be reflected during the 3-day weekend, the pre-cursillo and the post-cursillo?
2. To be a friend is to be able to think one’s life aloud with another.
3. The relationship of friendship is the most genuinely human and genuinely gospel way of entering in communion with another. It consists in communicating with another human being as a person, not because of his concrete qualities or social standing, but because he exists – because he is somebody.
4. Friendship could be summed up in the twofold affirmation:
“I am happy that you exist.”
“The world is more beautiful because you are alive.”
5. Friendship develops by means of a process.
6. Friendship can produce a powerful energy that can move men and women to change their reality.
7. Christian is the simple and definite pleasure of being a friend to the one who is next to me.
8. If a person does not have someone to bear with him, he will not be able to bear life, and he will become unbearable.
9. In order to make friends: first see; make others see; and then get them to look.
10. Cursillo is the vehicle for an experience of identity; a song to life; and a homage to friendship.
11. The key (to friendship) is in a relationship of friendship with oneself.
12. Friendship is creative but never close ended if its natural dynamic to generate more friendship is not excluded.
Group Dynamic: Divide into groups & discuss the members’ understanding of these fundamental notions of Cursillos charism.
Discussion Question: How is (or should) this fundamental aspect of Cursillo’s Charism be reflected during the 3-day weekend, the pre-cursillo and the post-cursillo?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Love - fourth in a series on the Charism
Thoughts from First Conversations of Cala Figuera:
In the very makeup of their person, every human being reflects a radical longing for personal love, which if observed intelligently and attentively always causes wonder because this need is directed to the very being and love of God.
To love is to see all persons, events and things from God’s perspective.
If one’s self is broken one cannot love.
To allow oneself to be loved is greater than loving. True love is nothing more than a response: “He loved us first.”
Sometimes the “pure of heart” are not pure in their intentions, and they amuse themselves by being paternalistic at every opportunity: they admonish without loving.
It is in the experience of love that one knows what is “greatest” and what is “best”.
To make love explicit the path is friendship.
One can fully come to know only that, which one truly loves.
We all need to grow (develop) in love, in work and in leisure.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13:
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away... At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
III. Fundamental Elements of the Charism: Love
Discussion Questions
1. Which one of the “thoughts” from the First Conversations of Cala Figuera is most striking to you, and why?
2. How do we make our love “explicit”, i.e., concrete during our Cursillo and in our Fourth Day?
In the very makeup of their person, every human being reflects a radical longing for personal love, which if observed intelligently and attentively always causes wonder because this need is directed to the very being and love of God.
To love is to see all persons, events and things from God’s perspective.
If one’s self is broken one cannot love.
To allow oneself to be loved is greater than loving. True love is nothing more than a response: “He loved us first.”
Sometimes the “pure of heart” are not pure in their intentions, and they amuse themselves by being paternalistic at every opportunity: they admonish without loving.
It is in the experience of love that one knows what is “greatest” and what is “best”.
To make love explicit the path is friendship.
One can fully come to know only that, which one truly loves.
We all need to grow (develop) in love, in work and in leisure.
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13:
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away... At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
III. Fundamental Elements of the Charism: Love
Discussion Questions
1. Which one of the “thoughts” from the First Conversations of Cala Figuera is most striking to you, and why?
2. How do we make our love “explicit”, i.e., concrete during our Cursillo and in our Fourth Day?
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Human Freedom--3rd in a Series on the Charism
NOTE: THIS HANDOUT HAS BEEN REVISED AND UPDATED SINCE THE JUNE 2 CLASS
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."[26] Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.[27]
1731 Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.
1745 Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he is the voluntary agent. His deliberate acts properly belong to him.
1746 The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, duress, fear, and other psychological or social factors.
1747 The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man. But the exercise of freedom does not entail the putative right to say or do anything.
1748 "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1).
Thoughts from First Conversations of Cala Figuera:
1. Only in freedom does a human being reflect his/her quality as a person.
2. To love is to make another person’s freedom possible.
3. Freedom is the right to be honest.
4. If one tries to motivate a person from the outside, one only succeeds in depersonalizing him. But, if one succeeds in discovering and awakening that person’s true (interior) motivating force, one helps him to grow as a person; to feel joy in that growth; and to have the good taste and excitement to exercise his talents with clarity and vitality – always in constant development to fullness.
5. Many are opposed to the demands of truth because they believe them to be in conflict with the need they feel to find happiness.
6. The truth that “God loves me” motivates the person, from within; and, drives events and things to their most radical originality, to their most vital creativity and to their overflowing fullness.
Discussion Questions
1. What does this respect for human dignity and freedom require of us during the “pre-Cursillo” and the 3-day weekend?
2. What does human freedom demand of us personally and in our dealing with others in our 4th day (Group Reunion, Ultreya)?
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."[26] Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.[27]
1731 Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.
1745 Freedom characterizes properly human acts. It makes the human being responsible for acts of which he is the voluntary agent. His deliberate acts properly belong to him.
1746 The imputability or responsibility for an action can be diminished or nullified by ignorance, duress, fear, and other psychological or social factors.
1747 The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man. But the exercise of freedom does not entail the putative right to say or do anything.
1748 "For freedom Christ has set us free" (Gal 5:1).
Thoughts from First Conversations of Cala Figuera:
1. Only in freedom does a human being reflect his/her quality as a person.
2. To love is to make another person’s freedom possible.
3. Freedom is the right to be honest.
4. If one tries to motivate a person from the outside, one only succeeds in depersonalizing him. But, if one succeeds in discovering and awakening that person’s true (interior) motivating force, one helps him to grow as a person; to feel joy in that growth; and to have the good taste and excitement to exercise his talents with clarity and vitality – always in constant development to fullness.
5. Many are opposed to the demands of truth because they believe them to be in conflict with the need they feel to find happiness.
6. The truth that “God loves me” motivates the person, from within; and, drives events and things to their most radical originality, to their most vital creativity and to their overflowing fullness.
Discussion Questions
1. What does this respect for human dignity and freedom require of us during the “pre-Cursillo” and the 3-day weekend?
2. What does human freedom demand of us personally and in our dealing with others in our 4th day (Group Reunion, Ultreya)?
Saturday, May 31, 2008
THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON- 2nd in a Series on the Charism
God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)
1. The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God. Human beings were created by God and for God; and God does not cease to call them to Himself. That is why it is only in Him that men and women can find the truth and happiness they seek.
Human dignity rests above all on the fact that humanity is called to communion with God. The invitation to converse with God is addressed to men and women as soon as they are born. For if people exist it is because God has created them through love, and through love continues to keep them in existence. They cannot live fully in the truth unless they freely acknowledge that love and entrust themselves to their creator.[1]
2. Of all visible creatures only man is able to know and love his creator. He is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake; and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life.[2] In other words,
“Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone.” As such, the human person “is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer Him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.”[3]
3. Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation.” (GS, 22) It is in Christ, “the image of the invisible God,” (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4) that man has been created “in the image and likeness” of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image – disfigured in man by the first sin – has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God.[4]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Every individual who strives to be a person and exercises his faculties to gradually achieve it more fully, frequently struggles between his fears and aspirations. Commonly, he will attempt to flee from his fears and move toward his aspirations. Man is attracted by his aspirations and assaulted by his fears. When he struggles to achieve his aspirations with nobility and honesty, he “moves toward.” When he is overcome by his fears, it can be said that he “flees from.” (Eduardo Bonnín and Francisco Forteza, in Forgotten Evidence, no. 9)
1. Make a list of your aspirations and your fears.
2. In view of the dignity that we each possess as persons made “in the image of God”, how do these fears and aspirations diminish or enhance our human dignity?
[1] Gaudium et Spes, no. 19, 1
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 356
[3] Ibid., no. 357
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1701
1. The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God. Human beings were created by God and for God; and God does not cease to call them to Himself. That is why it is only in Him that men and women can find the truth and happiness they seek.
Human dignity rests above all on the fact that humanity is called to communion with God. The invitation to converse with God is addressed to men and women as soon as they are born. For if people exist it is because God has created them through love, and through love continues to keep them in existence. They cannot live fully in the truth unless they freely acknowledge that love and entrust themselves to their creator.[1]
2. Of all visible creatures only man is able to know and love his creator. He is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake; and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life.[2] In other words,
“Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone.” As such, the human person “is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer Him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.”[3]
3. Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation.” (GS, 22) It is in Christ, “the image of the invisible God,” (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4) that man has been created “in the image and likeness” of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image – disfigured in man by the first sin – has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God.[4]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Every individual who strives to be a person and exercises his faculties to gradually achieve it more fully, frequently struggles between his fears and aspirations. Commonly, he will attempt to flee from his fears and move toward his aspirations. Man is attracted by his aspirations and assaulted by his fears. When he struggles to achieve his aspirations with nobility and honesty, he “moves toward.” When he is overcome by his fears, it can be said that he “flees from.” (Eduardo Bonnín and Francisco Forteza, in Forgotten Evidence, no. 9)
1. Make a list of your aspirations and your fears.
2. In view of the dignity that we each possess as persons made “in the image of God”, how do these fears and aspirations diminish or enhance our human dignity?
[1] Gaudium et Spes, no. 19, 1
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 356
[3] Ibid., no. 357
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1701
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Person--First of a Series on the Charism
To be a Person is to make the leap from:
- Mimicry to Creativity
- Coercion to Spontaneity
- Obedience to Genuine Desire
- Anonymity Protagonism
In the interior world of the human person is where God has placed what is most beautiful and wonderful in His creation.
The life of every person consists in running from his/her fears and journeying toward his/her aspirations. One walks towards or runs from...
The source of freedom and joy lies within oneself.
No one ought to invade the "jurisdictional waters" of the person (his/her aura, his/her most private self).
Every person longs to discover the sunlit part of their "ego": to identify the most private aspect of their reality as a person; the framework of his/her identity.
Good and evil can only be evaluated--judged--from the perspective of man or, better said, in relationship to him.
Man is a process of processes that processes itself--a reality of realities that are being realized.
One is not a Christian, nor a person; one gradually becomes one...
"Today man is the way of the Church" (John Paul II, "Centesimus annus")
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." (Maya Angelou)
LA Leader School Has Blog
Welcome to our Blog! Fr. Modesto has begun a wonderful series of classes at Leader School on the Charism of Cursillo. The first two topics were Freedom and Person.
This blog has been created out of the need for deeper reflection and continued sharing. We will post the material with questions so that we can continue to reflect on the sharing from school with those who attended as well as those who didn't.
Get the word out and keep blogging!
This blog has been created out of the need for deeper reflection and continued sharing. We will post the material with questions so that we can continue to reflect on the sharing from school with those who attended as well as those who didn't.
Get the word out and keep blogging!
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