PRAYER VIGIL

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Many of us will always remember that feeling of warmth and utter astonishment when we received our first palanca on the Friday afternoon of our Cursillo weekend and read our individual messages of love and encouragement from fellow Christians we had never met from all over the world. People who had been praying for us for weeks, who knew us by name and would always be our sisters and brothers in Christ. Many people find it difficult to accept this outpouring of love and need time to accept it, but for many this is the moment when they finally accept God's unfailing love and receive His gift of His Holy Spirit. These outward messages of love and support are very important, but not as important as the gift of prayer.

Prayer is the underpinning of every Cursillo weekend wherever it is held world wide. It supports and upholds the weekend from beginning to end and into the Fourth Day.

In Chester, as in all diocese where Cursillo is operating, we have a prayer vigil for every weekend which starts at 6pm on the Thursday evening and ends at 3:30pm on the Sunday afternoon when the Clausura begins. It is divided into 30 minute slots and each cursillista is asked to fill in a time slot when he or she can pray. In the past each Ultreya has been allocated a block time slot, but many people find this restrictive and difficult to fit in with. For the October weekend the prayer vigil will be left open for everyone to choose their own time in the hope that more people will feel able to participate in this most important part of the weekend. Many people outside our diocese pray for the staff and participants of our weekends, so it is most important that we at the heart of Chester Cursillo pray for them too. These new cursillistas will become our brothers and sisters in Christ and as others prayed for us, so we must repay that gift of prayer and pray for others.

Sylvia Craddock

Palanca Secretary

These pages are maintained by Geoff Riley.
If you have any queries or comments about the Chester Cursillo pages, please feel free to email cursillo@arcturus\.geoffandcarole.co.uk.