Time to Reflect

At Saint Mary’s, the current buzz word is “Five Ones.” Fr Robert, our pastor, has talked and written about this several times. The idea is to provide some structure for intentionally deepening, growing, and maturing our faith through five weekly one hour dedications: one hour of prayer, one hour of study (scripture, theology, methods of prayer, etc), one hour of reading toward deepening faith (reflection or meditation books, scripture, etc), one hour of service, and one hour of pay toward the financial well-being of the parish.
Retreats, of course, take more than one hour a week, but they are excellent spiritual refreshers. They provide opportunities for prayer, scripture study, and reading for spiritual growth. Our priests joined the other priests of our diocese the week of October 6-10 for a retreat. Their presenter, Fr Greg Boyle, SJ is one of my favorite people, leaders, and spiritual directors. He’s fabulous.
My favorite retreat is a Cursillo weekend. Cursillo, which means little course, is a lay formation/empowerment movement that began in Spain and has spread worldwide. At the weekend, candidates are bowled over by the shower of God’s love they encounter. They learn in a deeply personal way how dear they are to God and the community. Following a weekend, the candidate becomes a Cursillista and is eligible to work a weekend and to deepen his or her faith through service and continuing community with other cursillistas. The men’s weekend took place October 9-12 and the women’s is coming up October 30-November 2. If you’d like more information, just ask me! I am a cursillista and the movement changed my life!