With Easter just around the corner my mind is drawn towards my favourite Easter exclamation, “We are an Easter people and ALLELUIA is our song!” As I reflect on this, specifically for my first Encourager article, it has got me asking myself what would be our Cursillo version of this? I think it might be “We are a fourth day peo-ple and De Colores is our song!”
De Colores is believed to have been around since the 1500s and, throughout the Spanish speaking world it is often used at rallies. It has a catchy tune, with child-like farm animal lyrics and yet contains the profound idea that for all our differences, be they the different colours of a rainbow or animals in the farmyard, we collec-tively come together as a perfect whole.
This child-like song, with a profound Christian ideal, reminds me of Matthew 18:3 “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Children need to rely totally on their parents for everything, the older you become the more self-reliant and somewhat jaded you be-come.
De Colores can revive that spark of childhood enthusiasm for our faith. A faith that, at its core, calls us to rely on God for our good and our future. De Colores also calls us into a community of acceptance, all the colours, all the barnyard animals come together to form the perfect whole.
We are also a fourth day people. It is definitely not that Cursillistas are better Christians than those who have-n’t been to Cursillo, but the experience often awakens in the Cursillista the understanding that the Christian life calls on us to use our gifts as a member of God’s family. All these gifts individually are like a colour or a farmyard animal. By themselves they are good and useful, but together they are spectacular.
In the 1990s the word synergy became popular. It means that our combined efforts are greater than the sum of our separate efforts. I know this sounds like an illogical math equation but together in our Christian com-munity we can inspire creative ideas, energize each other, and do more than we might have thought possible.
The Cursillo weekend is the perfect example of this happening Though a lot of hard effort goes into these weekends (I write this in the middle of preparing for Men’s 49) the weekend itself is one full of energy, fun, learning, and God’s spirit.
We must remember that this is the community energy we bring back into our Group Reunions, Ultreyas, and parish life. All we do is a blending of our individual gifts, com-bined team work, and the Spirit of God. We are a Fourth Day people and De Colores is our Song.
Fr Mark Cooper 