There are many things which we can do throughout the day that can help us with stress relief. A very important part of our lives is the community which we are a part of. When we join together as a community this helps sustain us. This grouping or coming together brings us to share the stressors of the day. We can discuss other issues that are going on with us. Joining together it is really at the heart of many of the Catholic movements throughout the world. Let me tell you about a few.
Communities near me helping with stress
Here at Saint Patrick, we have the Cursillo’s 3 Day weekend. This is then followed by their Fourth Day. Each Saturday morning a group of ladies join together for time together downstairs at the Downtown Campus… There is a men’s group which meet early I believe on Thursday mornings as well. The main purpose of the Cursillo movement is to support each other in times of physical, mental, or spiritual needs.
The Cursillo Movement began in Spain in the 1940s. It originated as preparatory training for young men planning a massive pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Compostela. This later evolving into a structured three-day course focused on Christian renewal. As a Deacon this support helps me greatly.
It should be no surprise that with such great support, 17 of the 18 men in my Deacon’s class had made their Cursillo weekend. I heartily endorse this spiritual group, but of course there are many more. Taking a weekend out of our lives is today a much more difficult thing to do, but there are many other groupings.
Light of the World
We also offer the Light of the World retreat. Followed by their Small groupings. Information on either of these can be found in the Narthex area. Any of our pamphlet areas have them as well. and of course the website has these as well. The people working in this movement are very serious about their faith. This means they are open to all people and ideas. Their main goal is to bring the truth of Jesus Christ to everyone’s heart mind and soul.
In the 1970s, the Rev. Alfonso Navarro, MSpSC of Mexico City, developed the Sistema Integral de la Nuevo Evangelización (Systematic Integration of the New Evangelization or SINE), a parish-based model for building faith communities and missionary parishes. He believed instruction and faith formation should be held in sectors (in local homes) within the Parish, thereby establishing small communities of faith. Fr. Navarro recognized that small groups of evangelized and passionate people had the ability to transform their parishes from the inside out.
In 1991, Ernesto Elizondo ( now Fr. Elizondo) was invited by Monsignor Dan Hermes to host the first SINE “Kerygma” Retreat at Holy Family Parish in Rockford, Illinois. This movement grew and is now centered in Crystal Lake.
Basic Ecclesial Communities
Worldwide there are BEC’s. BEC is an acronym which stand for Basic Ecclesial Communities. The Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) is defined as a small faith community of Christians gathered around the Word of God and Eucharist. BECs strive to integrate faith into daily life through solidarity, justice, and vibrant liturgy. Drawing from Acts, BECs share in the threefold functions of Jesus as prophet through catechesis, priest through prayer and worship, and king through service and social justice. BECs are characterized as human communities that are small and Christian communities that witness to the Gospel through unity in diversity. There are many opportunities throughout the world for grouping where you can take the time to move away from the hectic world and move into the realm of peace, and offer that stress up to God
Tonight we have been reminded or we have learned about various ways we can take back control of our lives a bit. We must remember our families and that our primary goal is to make sure they are all heading towards Heaven. We can or at least we shouldn’t try to keep up with the Earthly life. There are far too many traps there and so many ways to get lost in a maze of obfuscation and despair. The politics of the day will change over time and the evil things of 50 years ago will still be evil for all eternity.
We are loved no reason to stress
Life is precious and God wants each of us to know that our own particular life is special. He has been calling to us since before we were born. To live His life in His kingdom forever. He has created this world for us to learn his ways how those ways bring us to life, while the ways of Baal or the world or the Devil bring us toward death for all time. No one here wants that. Our focus should be on us and our family getting to heaven and along the way we don’t need distractions.
The tips I gave over the past few weeks are certainly not comprehensive and they will work for some, but not all. A data driven mind is going to struggle with artistic vision and vice versa. But relaxation techniques are meant to keep those distractions to a minimum. All can breathe easily in through our noses and out our mouths. We sit quietly on a chair with our palms resting. Placing our trust in Jesus to help us and guide us through our problems and troubles. You can see our past articles on relieving stress:
- https://deacondavestowell.com/relax-and-enjoy-without-worry/
- https://deacondavestowell.com/away-with-summer-stress-love-jesus/
We can then more easily meditate upon why Jesus came to this Earth. We can do this while reciting easily remembered prayers and easily remembered vision of paintings, icons as well as the crucifix.
