trentonCURSILLO

The Second Vatican Council reminds us that Mary is a member of the Church who “occupies a place in the Church which is the highest after Christ and also closest to us.” (LG, #54) She is the first and the greatest of all the Disciples of Christ.  Our Lady of the Assumption is the Patroness of the United States as well as the Patroness of the Diocese of Trenton. When Pat and I went on pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Italy, Portugal, Spain and France, we saw many images of Mary’s Assumption. In Israel, we even visited a room reported to be the place of Our Lady’s “Dormition’ or sleep. Earliest Christians believed that Mary did not die, but went to sleep and was taken up to heaven, body and soul.  Romans 6:23 tells us “The gift of God is eternal life. The wages of sin is death.”  Genesis describes the creation of Adam and Eve in the state of grace. They were living in total relationship with their Creator, walking and talking with God. There was neither sickness, nor death until they s

A dogma is an official document of the Catholic Church- In March 1948, during the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII; a new ecumenical council was called. This council would be an extremely opportune time for the proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption of Mary. This followed the appearance of Our Lady in Fatima starting on May 13, 1917. Our Lady told the children to recite the rosary and do penance in reparation for the sins of the world. To spread the message of Fatima throughout the world, Fr. Alonzo took a statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Capelinha in Fatima on tour to Madrid and throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In Catholic Spain, the “Miracle of the Doves” occurred. Wherever Our Lady’s statue appeared, it was surrounded by white doves hovering over it as an honor guard. Many miracles also occurred. In Heaven, Mary is the Mediatrix and dispenser of graces. She has appeared in many places and at many times to ask us to repent and to pray the Rosary daily. Many of our

Prayer: Benevolent Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,   your pilgrim people gathered here this night ask for courage, the courage to live out in our daily lives the faith we profess with our lips.   Amen Last October I was asked to give a talk on Our Blessed Mother, In May we were blessed with two wonderful rollos on Our Lady by Fr. Ed and Ronnie Martella, both of which quoted the sacred scriptures and the many ways in which Mary is our model, our teacher, our spiritual guide and most of all and forever, our mother. It would seem that Cursillistas like to talk and to listen to talks about Mary.   Saturday Morning Sabatina is dedicated to Our Lady on every Cursillo weekend.   Non-Catholics just seem to wonder what all the fuss over Mary is about?   Let’s meditate on that question for a moment. This particular meditation is not an easy one. It involves the Supernatural reality of God and the spiritual realm beyond our reach but not beyond our knowledge.    These are themes which our

DeColores, This morning I had the wonderful weekly opportunity to share with Al Martella and a regular group of men who have been on a conference call weekly since the Pandemic began.   It is truly enriching. Today Al asked each of us to share how we are coping with the pandemic personally!   The responses were heartfelt, emotional, personal and prayerful. I was the last speaker, the clean up “batter” so to speak. I based my thoughts on the Tripod (Piety, Study and Action) My first step in coping with this is to continue and strengthen my own prayer life… I attend 2 weekday Masses and one on Sunday and made myself useful by assisting the Church team in organizing the return to Church effort.   I start my day with morning prayer, and do a good amount of spiritual reading.   I try to go out of the house and sit in a park, by the complex pool or outside of Dunkin Donuts (cannot give up that first Cup!!)   I am reading the biography of John Paul 2!   It is 1000 pages and I read i

You can watch the July 17th School of Leaders on YouTube at this link.

Some of you may recall that from December 2012 to December 2014, I underwent a series of medical issues that threatened to take me. I was homebound for much of that time with nursing care from my wife and visiting nurses. I spent weeks in the hospital. Many of you prayed for me and helped lift my burden. During those difficult times, I turned to God and had some of my closest moments to Christ. I knew I was not alone. My greatest concern was for my wife who had to take care of me and who worried about me. She needed our prayers as well. For most of that time I was unable to attend Mass. As a daily communicant I missed being there and receiving the Eucharist. I watched on TV but it isn’t the same. For the past three months we all experienced the loss of Mass and communion. Somehow, it was worse for me this time than when I was sick. I know Christ is still present in our lives, but I longed so much to return to Mass and communion. Our entire society has also changed during thi

National Cursillo announces "We are excited to invite you to join us for a 2020 Virtual National Encounter on July 24 and 25! We are committed to having the Cursillo Charism at the heart of our encounter. This was true for our regular in-person encounter and will hold true for our Virtual National Encounter as well! Let’s Make History Together! Live-stream Masses, Virtual Fellowship, and Breakout Sessions. Log in from your cell phone, PC, Tablet etc. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE AGENDA FOR THE ENCOUNTER AT THIS LINK. The registration fee is $50 per person if the Encounter Registration Form is received by July 5, 2020. Registration fee increases to $70.00 per person on July 6, 2020. We are unable to guarantee attendance after July 18, 2020 MORE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION FORMS CAN BE FOUND AT THIS LINK. Please continue to pray for the success of the First Virtual National Encounter.  BTW, The National Encounter is asking for palanca. It can be sent to cursillo.ncc.palanca@gmail.com

What a joy it was to see all those who were able to join us on the Zoom call last evening for School of Leaders.      Each time we gather, no matter the medium, we are given a chance to learn and grow from each other.    We open ourselves to what God has for us, wants to tell us and give us though our time with each other and the talks.    Each talk touches on similar but different aspects of the theme for the time.   And the Holy Spirit does what the Spirit does and brings the talks together. But in addition to that is the chance for those in community to respond to the talks, ask questions, seek clarification, and deepen the discussion with their own experiences and resources that have discovered, and last night was no different.   Last night, the idea of praying our most well known prayers; The Our Father, The Hail Mary and others, using different words was presented.   What a wonderful way to break open a prayer, to really reflect on what the prayer means.   We also were told

Prayer:          All praise and glory are Yours, almighty Father: You have given us Your Son Jesus to save us from sin. We praise You for choosing Mary to be His Mother,   for teaching her to believe Your message, for helping her accept Your holy will. Strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit to be like Mary: To ponder Your word in our hearts, To obey Your will,       To love Your Son,      To sing Your praises every day. Father, we praise You through Jesus Christ, Your Son in the love of Your Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen   When Robert asked me to do a talk on Mary, two songs came immediately to mind:   I kept them in the back of my mind while I looked at the Catechism and other sources to prepare the talk- but the two songs stayed with me, coming to the front of my mind and on to my lips at different times.    I wondered why but I continued reading and preparing the paper…. The first source I went to was the Catechism.   For me the Catechism is something that at first

Opening Prayer:  O Mary, You shine continuously on our journey as a sign of hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who, at the foot of the cross, were united with Jesus’ suffering, and persevered in your faith.  Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform ourselves to the will of the Father and as at Cana in Galilee, to do what Jesus tells us. For he took upon himself our suffering, and burdened himself with our sorrows to bring us, through the cross, to the joy of the Resurrection.  We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God; Do not despise our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from every danger, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  May has historically been known as “the month of Mary”. We pay special devotions to her: we begin the month with a crowning of her image, there is special emphasis on the Marian devotion of the Rosary, there are litanies offered on her behalf, many times we end the month with –

Hello my Beloved Brothers and Sisters, I hope everyone is healthy and safe. We have a wonderful opportunity to have our SOL on Zoom! (Thank you Bob Morris.) We will have SOL on May 15, 2020 Friday night 7-9PM. You will be receiving an email on how to sign on your computer, iPad or cell phone. We are hoping that we will be able to have our Quarterly Mass if we are freed from our humble abodes. Thank you for your faith and prayers. We need to stay prayerful at this time. Continue to reach out to your fellow cursillestas! Anyone need any shopping or medication please reach out to your families, friends and neighbors. Any questions or issues please contact me directly. Prayers and peace of mind to all! Your Humble Servant, Kathy 908-415-6006

Once upon a time not very long ago.  In fact, at the start of this story; there lived a loving and very wise KING.  This King created a Utopian city which he called the greatest city in all the land. The King put a group of rulers in charge of this city to rule it wisely and lovingly just as he had imagined.  The King told these rulers his magnificent dream for his kingdom. The King called these rulers Keepers and He entrusted them with the power to make his dream a reality in the greatest city in all the land.   He wanted a place where all people could live in peace and safety. He wanted his kingdom to be a place where his people could live and work and play and be happy.. The King knew his perfect plan would ensure that above all else, his people would be happy, content and at peace with each other.. The people who lived in the city had all anyone could wish for to live a happy life. .  Happiness was the most precious gift the King wanted his people to have and so he made the

My Beloved Brothers and Sisters, I with the support of the Secretariat will be cancelling all Cursillo Events for the month of March, for the health and safety of our Cursillistas. This includes School of Leaders/Secretariat meetings. I have cancelled Tinton Falls Ultreya for this week. My suggestion is to suspend current Ultreya meetings for this month. Self containment for the COVID19 virus is recommended. Anyone with an immuno-compromised system should not gather in numbers. The numbers of people affected by the virus is growing at a more rapid pace than earlier predictions. Father Ed states, ask the intercession of St. Damien of Molokai for us in this time of active uncertainty. This is not to put fear in anyone's heart but to be prudent for health concerns. Please disseminate this information to your Ultreyas members that do not receive e-mails. As of March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) has called the outbreak (COVID-19) a pandemic. The last time t

Father Ed has made us aware of this update from the Diocese of  Trenton. INSTRUCTIONS RE: CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) AND LITURGICAL PRACTICES In light of the escalating concern about the spread of the coronavirus (COVID_19) Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has issued the following instructions on liturgical practices to be observed in ALL parishes, institutions and organizations within the Diocese of Trenton, effective immediately until otherwise notified: 1. People who have flu-like symptoms or who are otherwise feeling sick should not go to Mass or other Church gatherings; 2. Priests, deacons and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion should practice good hygiene, washing hands with soap and water or anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, before and after distributing Holy Communion; 3. People are encouraged not to receive communion on the tongue; worthy, reverent reception by hand is preferred until otherwise notified; 4. The practice of distributing the Precious Blood from the Chalice is

Ash Wednesday You are dust and unto dust you shall return.  Someone is under my bed, either coming or going! After His baptism, Jesus went into the desert for forty days to pray and fast in order to prepare for His ministry. So many times during His lifetime, Jesus went off by Himself to pray, to spend time with His Father. We can learn a great deal from this.  Lent is our time to come apart from our normal activity to pray and sacrifice in order to grow closer to God in preparation for the celebration of the Triduum and Easter Sunday. Many of us decide to fast from a particular food, such as candy, or desserts. Some of us will try to pray more often, say an extra rosary every day, or attend Mass during the week. One year my Dad gave up cigarettes for lent- it was very hard on him, but even harder on us, his family, as his temper grew short. One friend of mine gave up his morning WaWa coffee, and drank hot chocolate instead. He gained ten pounds. Lenten sacrifices should be a

The Diocesan Mass will be: Friday March 6, 2020 at 8PM Visitation 730 Lynwood Ave Brick NJ 08723 Following the First Friday Eucharistic Adoration Holy Hour. Hope to see you there!

Robert Lauricella invites all to come celebrate God's Love at the Saint Mary Parish Valentine's Dance. It includes a delicious Buffet Dinner, DJ, a supervised kids program, lots of Dancing, and so much more!!! Admission only $25 for adults, $5 for Children. Call your family and friends to reserve a table. All Welcome - Couples, Singles, Grandparents, Families and Friends. For more information call: (732) 671-0071 ext 239.

Don Geiger writes: "Breaking News!!! NY Yankees Mark Teixeira coming to Saint Mary's to speak at the Catholic Men for Jesus Christ Rally on February 29, 2020. This Men's Rally could sell out quickly.  Register today at  www.CATHOLICMENFORJESUSCHRIST.org .  Pass the word and invite our brothers to come. Thanks!"