PURPOSE OF SCHOOL OF LEADERS

1. In the light of the inspiring words we’ve just heard, let us truly invoke the Holy Spirit as together we pray: “Come Holy Spirit…” Welcome to a new and exciting semester of School of Leaders. I am overjoyed that you were all able to take time out of your busy schedules to gather together in friendships. 2. Now, I’m going to start by making a few inferences. I’m going to infer that one of the main reasons you are here at School of Leaders is because you love the Cursillo Movement. Your motivation in coming tonight may have been sparked through curiosity and a yearning for a deeper knowledge of the movement. You may have questions that you’re dying to get answered. Maybe you want to show your support for Cursillo and our beautiful community. Or maybe you’re here for the friendship -- friendships that are based in Christ which are sometimes all too hard to find now-a-days. I’m guessing that in addition to these reasons, you’re here tonight to be with other like-minded people who share the same spirit and beliefs. Guess what!?!? These are the perfect reasons to attend the School of Leaders. According to the Structure of Ideas, School of Leaders is

“a place where all those present vibrate to the rhythm of the same spirit and the same opinion” (28)

. Now what does that mean? School of Leaders is above all an environment of friendship. These friends share a mutual love for the Cursillo Movement and seek to study the fundamental objectives of this beautiful Charism. A School of Leaders community should hope to help our larger community live out the Cursillo Movement as authentically as possible. 3. Did you get that? Those of us who attend School of Leaders should hope to help our community of Cursillistas live out the Cursillo Movement as authentically as possible. Does that sound intimidating? I don’t mean it to. But let’s look at that for a second. One major aspect of School of Leaders is study. We are going to be here Wednesday after Wednesday learning about the beautiful gift that is Cursillo. By studying the Movement, we will be able to better understand and authentically live out what Cursillo teaches (Purpose #3). Our good friend Leticia Negrete is taking a course on the Liturgy of the mass. Her excitement for learning the ins and outs about the tradition of the Liturgy spreads like wildfire. I hope you’ve been fortunate enough to hear her express her awe of the mass. It’s inspiring. She helps others learn by sharing with them many different topics that have come up in her class. This is what we as Leaders should aim to do – remember, we are here at the School of Leaders. By studying the Movement, we become the sparks that starts the wildfire, spreading, as if on a mission, to the rest of our Cursillo community. Another very key aspect to School is “to promote and increase the level of spiritual growth of the Cursillistas (Purpose #1). We do this through prayer here at School of Leaders. Whether it be Mass, reflective time in the church or the prayer to the Holy Spirit, we center ourselves in Christ and remind ourselves that this is God’s work. We are His and all that we do comes through and with Him. Also, by studying the Movement more closely, we are truly studying what it meant to be Christian – perpetuating our spiritual growth a hundred-fold.

School of Leaders is also a great way to help form new leaders.

I’ve been a Cursillistas for less than a year, and although it wasn’t my idea to be giving this talk, I’m grateful that I was asked because it took much learning and preparation. I spend time studying some Cursillo literature and talking with others who are more knowledgeable in the Movement than I am. Knowing that School of Leaders is first and foremost an environment of friends, it takes most of the pressure off and is allowing me to grow. There are several other examples I could probably give, but I think you get the point. This is a wonderful place to train Leaders (Purpose #4). When looking through the Cursillo literature, I noticed an emphasis was placed on giving life to the Ultreya (Purpose #2). When Miguel Sureda came to visit our School for one evening this summer, the question was asked,

“How does the school serve the Ultreya?” His answer, “the Leaders at School should have the same mentality while attending an Ultreya as they would while serving a weekend.”

This is just one example of many that I bet you and I could find together on how we at School can serve the Ultreya. 4. Solidarity here at School of Leaders is essential. It is enabled through a “regular” Group Reunion and Attending Ultreya. When we as a community of Leaders seek this Solidarity, the result, according to the Leader’s Manual, is personal aptitude and a community attitude (LM 57). Although this is an extensive topic which we need to take more time delving into another time, let’s take a closer look at a few of these points.

Our Personal Aptitude, or individual capacity, is made up of Psychological Maturity, Authenticity, Integrity and Capacity of Amazement.

Having authenticity means that we accept each other as being beautiful creations of God. As I once heard in a homily, “I love you because I love God.” Each of us has a fault or two…. Or 50, that make us hard to get along with. I think it’s easy to say that finding the fault in others is often much easier than recognizing our own shortcomings. Remember Matthew, 7:5? “You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from you brother’s eye. Here at School, and really in life, “there is no room for hypocritical or other attitudes,” (LM 58). We are called to rise above that. Recognizing the creator in everyone created, takes us back to that idea of solidarity. We are all brothers and sisters. We are one body of Christ. Integrity refers to unity and continuity of life. Not only must we have conviction, we must have constancy. What good is an idea if it never gets implemented? What good is our belief if we don’t act in accordance with it? How about a promise that is never fulfilled? We as a community of Leaders must be filled with integrity and the constancy to live day after day in that integrity. We at school must also have opened eyes that are willing to be amazed by the potential around us. We need to seek to see the fullness of all that exists. Without this capacity of amazement, we become stuck, cycling through mediocrity and never becoming extraordinary. Secondly, the Communitarian attitude, the attitude of our community, is our capacity for friendship. Each of us should understand what makes him/her a leader. We are called to develop our skills as efficiently as possible while keeping true to the virtues of humility, justice, and faith, hope and charity. I hope we can delve into this idea of Solidarity more deeply at a later time. It seems to offer much insight to how we as a community of friends should function. Again, let me repeat that this solidarity is enabled through a “regular” Group Reunion and Attending Ultreya. 5. Now that I completed what the characteristics of School are, let me use this unsophisticated transition to talk about whom School of Leader’s is intended for. According to the Leaders’ Manual,

“one is not a leaders because he attends the School of Leaders; one is in the School of Leaders because he is a leader of Christianity” (57)

. As I said earlier, many of us felt a call to be here tonight, and this wasn’t an accident. Sure, we hear that all the time, but it’s true. Christ calls us in particular way. He can use a simple tug of the heart, a burning question and a yearning for deeper knowledge. The Structure of Ideas speaks of

“a real holy fear of the Cursillo” (29)

. It goes on to explain that this “real holy fear” derives from an awe-filled attitude towards it. I think it’s safe to say that many of us are grouping regularly, attending local Ultreyas, and even occasionally serving a weekend. Have you ever stopped to think that this too isn’t an accident? This call from Christ has a more obvious, yet not always acknowledged source. An awe-filled attitude toward Cursillo steers us to utilize the Movement into our lives as best we can. 6. The effectiveness of school depends on a few particular points. Let me start by sharing a short story. I registered for a psychobiology class this semester (and ONLY because it’s a psych major requirement!). I’d been dreading it all l summer. Around campus it’s all too common to hear horror stories about the class and student’s final grades. It’s intense and packed with much information. About three days before our first lecture, we all got an email that stated that anyone who is registered in the class has the opportunity to sign up for the accompanying SI course – Supplementary Instruction. I registered for this one unit supplement in a heartbeat, and through God’s goodness, it fit into my schedule perfectly. After the first full lecture last week we were all pretty lost, especially me having little to no background in science. After lecture, about 25 of us headed upstairs for this SI class. The instructor asked us how the class would work… we all looked at her dumbfounded. She then proceeded to tell us that she wasn’t going to give us a second lecture. She would give us minimal guidance, but mostly, she said that was going to have us do the work to figure out the lecture for ourselves and then explain it to the rest of the class. She said, that only through being able to explain the material to another, would we ever be able to truly master it. To my great surprise, after that one SI session I was able to give a completely coherent and accurate summary of the professor’s lecture. This format is pretty much identical to how School of Leader’s is set up. It isn’t about coming here to be lectured at, it’s more so about sharing the knowledge we’ve learned about the Cursillo Movement to our friends. That “lecture” is any Cursillo literature you’ve read and your personal experience of the Movement. Here at School of Leaders our mission is to study that lecture, in order for us to help one another better understand Cursillo. So how else can we have an effective School? The Leaders’ Manual states that

“A Movement is as good as its leaders. It is not possible to have an authentic and truly effective Cursillo Movement unless it is served by a group of leaders who exemplifies everything the Movement is supposed to be” (57)

. And what is the movement supposed to be? Well, not to leave you on a cliff hanger, but that’s what we’ll learn here at School. Our curriculum for this semester looks something like this: • Finding our Identity as a Movement through our Charism • Our role as Laity at the Group Reunion and Ultreya • Holiness: a fruit of living our Charism • Our role as Laity and the dynamics of serving on team • Our spiritual Warfare; our spiritual role while on team • Being Present to the Other AND • Being a Modern day Disciple Hmmm… So going back to that last quote I read: “A Movement is as good as its leaders. It is not possible to have an authentic and truly effective Cursillo Movement unless it is served by a group of leaders who exemplifies everything the Movement is supposed to be” (57). Can anyone tell me what we as Cursillistas exemplify as a means to continue living a life of grace? PIETY, STUDY, and ACTION! 7. So any idea what we do at School of Leaders??? …We pray, we study, and we act. We begin everything, as it should, in prayer. Every other week when Fr. Mo will be presenting, we will have the great fortunate of gathering at Mass. When father isn’t with us, we will have the great fortune of Adoration or some reflective prayer time. As Miguel Sureda explained on his visit, his good friend, Eduardo Bonnin’s narrative of prayer regarding Cursillo was this:

“prayer is the foundation of this structure that we call the ‘Cursillo Movement.’”

Study is, as I also mentioned, a means to accomplishing many goals, such as raising the effectiveness of our movement as well gaining a deeper understanding about the movement so that we can turn around and teach others. Lastly, we act. School of Leaders is a great place to bring up concerns about our Movement and hopefully together come up with plausible solutions. 8. In conclusion, I want to leave you with this thought. St. Gregory the Great, whose feast day we celebrate today, would never have called himself “great” due to his profound simplicity. He liked to call himself

“a servant to the servants of God.”

Help us, Oh Lord, to imitate this great saint as we become servants to all those who we encounter. St. Gregory the Great … Pray for us St. Paul, Patron of Cursillo … Pray for us Small Groups in a style of the decurias: What did you get out of the Rollo / what did you learn?