De Colores Dear Friend

I lost my friend Paul on July 4th. We had been friends for 30 years, more spiritual friends than social friends. We both had gone on a Cursillo weekend, a Spanish term that means “a short course in Christianity”. Cursillo focuses on showing Christian lay people how to become effective Christian leaders over the course of a three-day weekend. The weekend includes fifteen talks, some given by priests and some by lay people. The major emphasis of the weekend is to ask participants to take what they have learned back into the world on what is called the "fourth day". The method stresses personal spiritual development enhanced by weekly group reunion.

It was at that weekly group reunion that we met. Each week for several years, four or five of us would meet and dialogue on the spirituality of our week. The concept was based on a triad of Piety (Holiness), Study (Formation), and Action (Evangelization). In Piety we would talk about spiritual aids that helped us to grow spiritually the past week. They could be such items as morning and evening prayer, meditations/personal prayer, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, etc. Probably the question that I enjoyed and benefited the most from was “What was your closest moment to Christ this week?” It was a time when you could reflect on the past week and realize Christ in your life. It could be as simple as when the bagging girl at the grocery store said “Let me help you with that”. It could be as profound as conducting a prayer service for your dear friend and remembering those many group reunions that we shared together. Christ is always present around us every day. We just don’t always recognize Him, sometimes until it is too late.

The second leg of the tripod was Study. You could sum it up by asking, “What have you learned of Christ this week.” It could be from reading scripture, meditating on what Christ wants of you, asking WWJD (what would Jesus do), or just a daily examination of conscience such as the Ignatian  Daily Examen. It could even be a movie, a TV special or a lecture you heard. We find God in many ways. Through Study, we very often learned not only something about God, but about ourselves and our relationship with Jesus.

The third leg of the tripod was Action. How did I bring Christ to others; in my family, my neighborhood, my work, my environment. Often we have the best of intentions, but we don’t always follow through with what we intend to do. As Jesus says in Matthew 26:41, “The Sprit is willing but the flesh is weak.” But we also have to celebrate those times where we may have helped bring someone closer to Christ. And sometimes people are not able to come to Christ so we have to bring Christ to them. Paul did just that. Every week he brought Jesus to the residents of Genesis Nursing home in the Eucharist. When I did a prayer service there this week, several people came up to me and said how sad they were and how much they were going to miss his loving, gentle presence.

Paul, I am sad too but so grateful for all those memories and time I spent with you. I will miss your big, loving hugs and your friendly smile. Your spirit will always remain alive in my heart. I love you. De Colores Paul Ginnetty.

Deacon Greg Beckel