Daily Archives: December 2, 2015

Lay Director

Lay Director – December 2015

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Dear Brother and Sister Cursillistas,

This month our dear mother church doubly blesses us with the season of Advent and the Holy Year of Mercy. Advent – to prepare us for remembering the coming of our Beloved Lord Jesus, and Mercy, – to give us a pathway to examine how our lives can be more productive for Christ as well as a motive to examine our relationship with all we encounter and interrelate.

So, what gift can you prepare for the infant Jesus during Advent? Perhaps you could contact those people you have sponsored on a Cursillo weekend and determine how to help them on the journey, if they need help. Are these friends grouping, attending Ultreyas and School of Leaders? How about your, are you grouping, attending Ultreyas and School of Leaders as often as possible? Are you making friends, being a friend, and bringing these friends to Christ?

During this year of Mercy perhaps we could begin with a review of the subject and make it our year-long effort toward piety, study, and evangelization.

Corporal Works of Mercy are those that tend to bodily needs of others. See Matthew 25:34-40. The last work of mercy, burying the dead, comes from the Book of Tobit.[3][4]

  1. To feed the hungry.
  2. To give drink to the thirsty.
  3. To clothe the naked.
  4. To shelter the homeless.
  5. To visit the sick.
  6. To visit the imprisoned.
  7. To bury the dead.

Just as the Corporal Works of Mercy are directed towards relieving corporeal suffering, the even more important aim of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to relieve spiritual suffering.

  1. To instruct the ignorant.
  2. To counsel the doubtful.
  3. To admonish sinners.
  4. To bear wrongs patiently.
  5. To forgive offences willingly.
  6. To comfort the afflicted.
  7. To pray for the living and the dead.

May Our God of Love be with you throughout this holy season,     Nick Lang
Spiritual Director

Spiritual Director – December 2015

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Advent and Christmas is a time to prepare and to celebrate the coming of Christ into the world, the Word made Flesh.

But what does that mean to us who seem so caught up on things like “Black Friday” that is now happening almost a week before. Or, how about the stores that are getting the jump by opening at 6pm on Thanksgiving night, is that the type of preparation and anticipation that we should be celebrating?

You all know the answer to that, so why do we in the Church take this time of Advent, to anticipate, to prepare? What we are doing is recalling the patience of our spiritual ancestors, who looked forward to the coming of God’s anointed One, the Christ.

So, what are you doing to make this time special for family? Perhaps taking some time to tell the stories of past Christmases in which you, maybe not so patiently, waited for the gathering of family or on a more basic level, the anticipation of coming gifts.

Take some time to recall what it is that we are waiting to celebrate, and how we can make that celebration a true encounter with our Christ, by the encounter we will have with family and friends.

So as we begin this new Church year, let us make just one resolution, to deepen our encounter with Christ, as we encounter his sisters and brothers in the Church. This would be a good time to also, in those encounters, practice the gift of Mercy. Remember, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has established a Holy Year of Mercy, beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, to run until the Solemnity of Christ the King in 2016. In what ways can you make the year of 2016 more profound by your practicing of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy?

May you and all those you love have a spirit-filled Advent, a joyful Christmas, and a New Year filled with peace, joy and love.

De Colores,

Fr. Gary