Return from Cursillo

http://www.olycursillo.org/

This is the link to find more information about the 3-day weekend event I attended recently. I'm not going to go all born-again new agey, but there are significant differences in place since I returned. The world is more vibrant, people are craving connection, songs on the radio are prayers if you listen hard enough and the face of God is everywhere - in a stellar jay on the deck rail, in the cashier at Safeway, in the woman next to you at the doctor's office and in your own family, spouse, children - yes, really, look hard...

Overall, on the weekend there were parts I really got into and parts I was not so hot about. Singing songs of praise, for someone who cannot hold a tune in a bucket - is moderately torturous; but having the opportunity to sing as a group at a new child's baptism was priceless. Having deep philosophical discussions like we used to have in college (without having to throw people in the showers to sober up) was something I had been missing for years. We just don't get that opportunity as women very often. The first night we were in a devotion of silence (me, silent for 12 hours...) and it was an adjustment. As I lay in bed the first night thinking "what am I supposed to get out of all this?" The message I got LOUD and CLEAR was "BE here, that's all." That I can do as I have no car, no wallet, no cell phone, and I'm in Olympia where I know no one.

The next morning we were awakened at 0 dark 30 and invited to break our silence after morning prayer and Eucharist. If we dressed quickly we were allowed to have tea or coffee in the sanctuary, so God and I had peppermint tea together. This could be the start of a new habit. But the morning prayer and silence has got to go, I'd not make a good Carmelite nun. We won't even get into the celibacy, obedience or poverty. We celebrated the Eucharist and were released from our silence! As one woman in the pew ahead of me said, "Oh good, I was going crazy with my own thoughts." Many of us were thinking the same thing. Our kitchen crew put on quite a spread from mini quiches to scones to oatmeal, yogurt, fruit and juices as well as the welcome coffee! We had the opportunity to get to know our table mates. I have always found this difficult, until I spied one woman's opal ring - "What a beautiful ring. Is there a story behind it?" became my conversation opener for the rest of the weekend.

We broke out into table groups by assignment and discussed many topics over the next two days about talks presented by persons among us on piety, prayer, faith, grace, sacraments, etc. After some discussions, we were encouraged to come up with a drawing that illustrated our concepts gathered from the talk and discussion. For example, after the talk about study we were asked to create a license plate to illustrate the talking points. Our group came up with PAGEMS - digging for gems among the pages of the Bible. We had a gifted artist at our table who came with her own materials and abilities we used freely - some of us are conceptualists and others can actually draw! We were the table of St. Bega a Celtic saint who fled to Northumberland to escape an arranged marriage and lived out her life in pious acts. Some days that idea would be appealing.

We had lunch breaks to socialize and a long break in the afternoon I used to walk with some of the women one-to-one and there were several 2x4 between the eyes moment when something would just pop into my head without conscious thought about it. I haven't yet processed all of them and need to do that before I can put them into words.

The biggest nugget I received from the weekend is overwhelming sense of being loved and cared for by the women on the team and by God. The second was that I don't have to do everything - I need to find what fits my ideal and pare away things that I have no time talent or passion for. That is going to be hard to make happen, but I can see that in order to keep a reserve for the things I want to do, it is necessary.

GRACE, Peace and Blessings! ;-P
Michelle