The Actual Grace talk on Friday afternoon of our Cursillo weekend introduced us to a new word, Palanca. It’s the Spanish word for lever, and a lever is a tool that can be used to lift something up, especially something heavy. Our own physical strength can be amplified with a lever.
Palanca is a means to amplify our spiritual strength with the supernatural strength of the Holy Spirit, and it’s not just about prayer. Each leg of the tripod, Piety, Study, and Action, are oriented to support our ideal to know, love, and serve God (CCC 1).
We grow our relationship with God through piety. Prayer and meditation are how we talk and listen to God, to discern His will for our lives.
Study is how we learn more about the nature of God and His creation. We learn about God from Holy Scripture, Church doctrine, the lives of the saints, and our environment. It may not seem like it, but Study itself is a form of Piety when it’s focused on strengthening our relationship with God.
Our piety helps us to discern the will of God, and if we are open to His will and trust in Him, Christian action will result. Our action is aided by our study because the more we know about God and our environment, the more effective our action of spreading the Gospel and serving others will be. We learn from our action, thus it is a form of study, and because we, by our action are of service to others, it is also piety because we are deepening our relationship with God through others.
Anything we do to build up the body of Christ becomes palanca. Our prayers, the sacrifices we make for others, our devotions to our Catholic faith and the Cursillo movement can all be counted as palanca. If you are living the Cursillo 4th Day, you are lifting up others with the grace you receive from God.
Whenever you sacrifice your time, talent, or treasure, it’s palanca. When you devote yourself to a ministry, to Mary, or the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it’s palanca. Attending a School of Leaders Meeting, an Ultreya, and faithful participation in your Group Reunion are also palanca.
Please lift up our Cursillo candidates and team members by sharing the amount and type of palanca you’ve done. You can share your palanca with the Memphis Cursillo Movement by submitting it with the Palanca form at http://memphiscursillo.com/palanca-form.
Submit your palanca whenever you think of it. The Palanca Coordinator will track it and share it with our teams and candidates. Remember how you felt when you opened your envelop after Clausura and saw how many people in the movement were focusing God’s love on you. It’s a great feeling.
God Bless you, and De Colores!