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On January 10, 2026, thirty-one women joined together to not only celebrate the New Year but also to spend the morning in prayer, reflection and fellowship. The joy of the Christmas season was alive.
The theme was “Emmanuel-God with Us.”  Jo Anne Ayers led us on a guided meditation on the Nativity. We journeyed together to welcome Jesus. We were gently reminded that God has done something great …and we are all a part of it. Even more extraordinary were the words of Mary explaining that you also have God…within you… And God must grow there too… that your task is to bring God to the world as well… And she can help you with that…and the Blessed Mother asks you if God can use your hands to help others…
As the meditation continued there was much to ponder in our hearts.
Chris Anest shared with us her reflection on, “How to keep God with us in our lives.”
One way shared is by attending Mass, the “source and summit” of our relationship with God, providing a direct, physical, and spiritual encounter that keeps Him central to our lives. Some of the key takeaways included silent prayer, to engage deeply with the readings and liturgy, to receive the Eucharist, and to carry Mass’s grace into your daily life. Chris posed this question for your consideration, “How can you challenge yourself to more fully participate in Mass?

Light in the Darkness
The ways of winter have descended upon us. I can’t honestly say I have ever embraced this season. Armed with a snow shovel, ice melt and the mandatory “storm snacks” we have braved these dark and extraordinarily frigid temperatures. The countdown of the clock adjustment to a much anticipated “spring forward” seems so far off. And, by the way, if anyone has seen that groundhog, can you send him to me, I have some thoughts to share.
I have come to realize that these seasonal shifts are wonderful opportunities to pause and evaluate patterns and things in our lives that often operate without a second thought. Straight up monotony somedays. Makes it more difficult to see the light peering from the darkness. It can be a time to take inspiration from the beauty and stillness in our environments. I always appreciate a vibrant sunset but there is something quite magnificent in the winter sunsets this season. They seem longer in duration and have produced such a vivid array of colors, no two evenings are alike and they are always awe inspiring. A true moment of DeColores!
I crave that connection to the last light, a final incredible burst to slowly close out the day. In that moment I feel the presence of our God and take comfort in His dominance over all living things. In Psalm 19:1, the Psalmist sings, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” How awesome that I can witness this each night, if I choose to. And that is the key- God has gifted me the freedom to choose. It is my choice whether to hibernate in the darkness or seek the light.
Having done my fair share of hibernating, I am intentionally choosing to see and be the light this season. Sometimes it takes great effort but I remember what is written, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
I was recently reflecting on the first winter I had spent in Canada. Fully immersed in a culture of preparedness, I quickly found out that they don’t shut much down and the day goes on with little interruption. The whole winter season is one big snow and wind storm that lasts from early November until April or later. I originally thought it was their resilience but discovered it was all choice. I learned a lot about myself in that stillness. I learned to appreciate and nurture the light I carry within myself and the importance of being part of a community to share that light with. It was also a much-needed reminder to set aside time to rest, recover, and renew in preparation for the longer days ahead. I was surprised in the places and people I found this light-from going curling for the first and last time, ice fishing (yes, in a little hut on the lake), neighbors taking turns grocery shopping for each other, clearing the snow off random cars just because you can and it is a kind gesture. Yes, Canadians are kind to the extreme. I felt that connection to the presence of God expressed by other people.
But, in the end it is all choice. We all have the freedom to choose how and with whom we spend the times of darkness we experience. We each have moments where we choose between light and darkness. I  quickly thought of what Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:14–16, “You are the light of the world.” How can you choose to carry the light to another this week?
Enjoy the sunset.
DeColores

Ultreya East, Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Manorville, NY
Facilitator: Joanne Lauro
Gene Johann said yes to be our Fourth Day speaker for our January Ultreya. For the theme of our evening Prayer he presented: “God you are a good God, and you want a relationship with me, even though I am a sinner. Thank you for loving me unconditionally. I choose today to love you unconditionally and welcome you into my life, in the name of Jesus, Amen.”
Gene’s questions for discussion in small groups were, as usual, so powerful. The light of Christ was in our midst as we shared our stories to his questions. This Lenten season consider pondering your answers to the questions:
Have you heard Jesus knocking at your door?
Have you let Him in completely?
Who in your life can you share a little more love or time with? Could it be Jesus?
What blocks you from walking with the joy of friendship with Jesus?
Ponder and enjoy the songs:
Walking on Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves: It’s time to feel good. I literally got up and felt God’s love (listening and singing to this) because I am so grateful to live such an awesome life with an amazing God, amazing family, amazing friends, in an amazing place like Ultreya East and West!!!! I am so thankful!
Let ‘Em In, by Wings: Do you hear the knocking? Open the door and Let ’em in. Ooh Yeah Yeah Let’em in now!!
Looking forward to seeing EAST and WEST on February 28 in the AM at the Lenten Morning of Prayer (St. Brigid’s Church, Westbury, NY).

The following reflection was written to the Men’s Cursillo Team on Christmas Day. It is inspiring for all particularly the Cursillo Community:
Friends of great faith, Merry Christmas to all of you!
You are a blessing from God! Each of you are part of a much larger gift in my life, and to the lives of so many others given by our loving Father. Know that you are a gift that continues to point the way to a deeper and most loving way, to a relationship with our loving God – Father, Son and Spirit…
This morning presented a different kind of Christmas morning. And for the first time in many years, it was just Beth and I. Our children and grandchildren didn’t stay over Christmas Eve, leaving us on this Christmas morning with silence… I lit the tree and sat there – it was so quiet… so powerful!
My prayer had no words – just the presence of Christ that filled my soul to the point of tears… the greatest gift…
And it just reminded me of the reality of who I am, and how God has had His eyes on me long before I was ever known to this world – a God who in His timing, couldn’t wait for me to be formed into a relationship of love and friendship with Him.
I pray that today on this Christmas Day, you feel that too…
I needed that reminder because sometimes I forget that He’s in every part of my life, that’s when I lose track of who I am. And isn’t that so true for most of humanity over the years. But God’s plan through the incarnation saves us over and over again, entering our humanity to show us how to live a life of love, friendship, compassion, forgiveness, and faith… A life of dying and rising, a life that sometimes looks as if we are losing ground, but as our eyes of faith are opened wider, it’s easier to see that we are continually gaining ground in this life we are given… What an awesome God!
The world today is a fragile place just like it was when Jesus was born into our humanity, and today in this same broken world, we are called out every day to deliver the Jesus who lives in us, just as Mary did…
And I know you do it well as I’ve witnessed it over the years. Cursillo is a powerful place where Grace meets resistance… It’s a place where you and I deliver the gift of Christ in a powerful way! And as I always say – the gift is ours in the knowing, that the power of Cursillo shows us that the time and place of delivery is everywhere and anywhere we are in this world.
So let us live a life of offering as Mary did, and let’s pray to be freed of the feelings we sometimes carry of inadequacy and unworthiness – our resistance!
Let us continue to pray for the trust in ourselves just as Mary did so that we can allow God to work His grace through us…
I pray that the presence of Christ will fill your heart & soul to the point of “tears of joy” for all that He gives us, not only in this season of Christmas as we know it – but to the Christmas that happens every day in our lives as we continue to seek and know Him…
May the Peace of Christ live in you always!
Jim

December 20th was the last Men’s Cursillo Follow-Up for the year 2025. Being so close to Christmas, we had no idea of how many guys would have that day    available to join us. Slight snow falling as well to    possibly deter the guests, we had a terrific showing of thirty-three men. Three new attendees came to see what we were all about, and two of them committed verbally to   attending a Cursillo in 2026.

Joe Amato’s talk about Advent, forgiveness and self -awareness, once again, got the men thinking and digging deep during the table discussions. Group sharing proved to be       productive, as many men declared their love of God, self and others, amongst other       wonderful spiritual enlightenments. Ending  with a communal prayer service always puts a nice touch on the end of our day’s experience. Followed by pizza at Toskana on Post    Avenue in Westbury, NY, allows us free time to laugh, joke and just be  ourselves.

If you haven’t yet come to be a part of us yet, please     consider doing so. We are sure you will enjoy it. The dates for 2026 have been set. They are February 7, March 21, May 2, June 20, September 5, October 10, November 14, and December 19. Please put these dates on you      calendars or in your phones! See you guys  in the new year! DeColores!

New Year, New Dreams, New Opportunities!
Advent and Christmas are rich celebrations in our lives. We prepare and we celebrate the incarnation; Jesus is born in us AGAIN! I often reflect on how that time in our church’s “calendar” provides us with starting again as the new year comes in. I have often started the new year thinking about resolutions, what will this year bring, and all kinds of thoughts like that. However, this year I was graced to sit each week in Advent reflecting on Hope and Light. I enter this new year filled with hope and the light of Christ to guide me. I am continuing this prayer and meditation into the new year – Hope & Light.
This came to me as I was reminded of a quote from Pope Francis: “Hope opens new horizons, making us capable of dreaming what is not even imaginable”.
I have no idea what this year will bring, wisdom has brought this new thinking into my mind and placed it on my heart so I can enter without expectations except one … my hope is in the One who always loves me and will always surprise me.
What about you? What does the New Year bring for you? How to you enter this new year; with resolutions, hopes, dreams? Can you be open to what God has in store for you?
I pose this question: what are the desires of your heart? OR … what is God’s desire for you?
As we begin a new year, perhaps you can take a moment to pray for God to reveal to you something he’d like you to meditate on in the coming year. What does God want you to learn? And where does he want you to grow?
Is there a word He’s putting on your heart in this new year?
I wish you peace on your journey into this new year, full of opportunities and surprises.
De Colores, Ann Marie

Our Annual Men’s Cursillo Christmas Mass and Dinner took place on December 8, 2025, at Thomas Berry Place in Jamaica Estates, NY, with thirty-six men enjoying this special event! Msgr. Joe Calise, once again, accepted our invitation to celebrate mass. No doubt, it was a wonderful Liturgy as Joe loves being a part of the Men’s Cursillo.
Matthew Bellas (Men’s Cursillo #199) joined us this year, with guitar in hand, to accompany us during the mass in song. Also joining in (with his beautiful baritone voice) was Mario Cannariato. Matthew also sang for us after dinner.
After Mass, we had a hearty dinner, wonderful table sharing, an array of desserts and lots of laughs and picture taking! Through the generosity of the men present, we collected $910 to supplement cost for candidates in need on Cursillo weekends.
Thank you all! And a special shout out to Tommy Leavens (one of our Spiritual Team guys who works there) for overseeing the event, making sure everything was top-shelf—and that it sure was.

As we enter the Christmas Season, let us take time to reflect on this joyous Season… One of my favorite Christmas stories is A Christmas Carol. I have seen them all, probably 100 times… And there’s this scene in the opening of the movie between Scrooge and his nephew Fred, when Fred comes to visit his Uncle Scrooge at his office, and he’s just so full of Christmas joy. Fred is the embodiment of rejoicing. He doesn’t have much money, he lives a modest life, but every year he invites his Uncle Scrooge over for Christmas dinner. So he enters Scrooge’s office and says, “Merry Christmas Uncle!” And of course his uncle responds with that famous line, “Bah! Humbug!” And Scrooge goes on to say, “What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.” You see, Scrooge is confusing joy with happiness.

And we have to be careful we don’t make the same mistake. You see, Scrooge might just as well say to us, “What reason have you to be merry? But Fred answers with a true understanding of joy. He says, “What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.”
Scrooge has all this money and he still has no joy. Fred understands, and his trying to get his uncle to understand, that joy isn’t about external circumstances like wealth or comfort or good health, but it’s a state of being caused by the incredibly Good News that Jesus has come, is coming, and will come again.
And Scrooge just doesn’t get it. But as we know, he does eventually learn the difference between happiness and joy with the help of three spirits who can help us understand, too. In the gospel John the Baptist tells the people, “There is one among you whom you do not recognize.” Jesus is among them but they don’t see Him. The solution to Scrooge’s misery is right in front of him, but he doesn’t see it. And so he is visited by three spirits who help him to look at his past, his present and his future through new eyes. They force him to examine his life more closely.

The Spirit of Christmas Past takes him to see his childhood, his youth, and he looks at those years with different eyes now. What if the Spirit of Christmas Past took us on a journey to our past? Because we, too, have a history, where would we be taken? What events from the past would the spirit show to you and to me?

Then there’s the Spirit of Christmas Present. This spirit takes Scrooge to visit those people in his present life who understand true joy: Bob Cratchit and his family… Where would the Spirit of Christmas Present take us? What would we see in our lives today that we might have overlooked? Who are the Bob Cratchit’s and the Tiny Tim’s among us, full of joy even in the midst of this challenging time? It is our call to seek out the poor, the afflicted, those suffering in body and soul, and to care for them, to serve them, and above all recognize the presence of Christ in them.

Now, the final visitor for Scrooge is, as you remember, the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. This silent and forbidding spirit takes Scrooge to see his future, or at least one possible future. And it frightens him. Scrooge’s future holds no rejoicing. He looks at what where he’s going, he looks at where he’s at, he looks at where he’s been, and he finally comes to understand. He understands Christmas joy.

That’s the call for us this Advent Season— to look at our past, our present, and our future, remembering the God who has come, who is coming, and who will come again. To recognize Christ in the needy and to help them. If you have never watched or read this beautiful story, do it before Advent is over…you will get a different understanding of Rejoicing and Joy… And as you read or watch or listen, imagine those spirits taking you to your past, present and future, and take the time to examine God’s presence in your life. And regardless of what is going on around us, in the face of that Good News, we rejoice.
God Bless…

I love the Season of Advent and Christmas. I love the music of the season, the cold crisp air, the neighborhood houses and businesses with their lights illuminating the darkness. Even though I struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder during the short days of fall and winter, there is something compelling about entering into the darkness. Maybe it’s connected to spending nine months in the darkness of our mother’s womb and therefore there is a sacred pre-birth connection I feel in the dark stillness. One Christmas song that moves me is O Holy Night, especially these lines:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angels voices. O night divine.

Despite growing up in a Catholic family and attending Catholic schools for 18 years, making a Christian Awakening and working Team— then teaching for 35 years in Catholic high schools and entering religious life, I have to admit that whenever I hear the above lines, especially the words, “…pining till he appeared and the soul felt its worth” I am reminded that so often I struggle with my worth. Too often I feel I have to prove myself, prove my worth. Maybe I take my struggles too seriously? Maybe like the song lyric says I am just weary; weary of a world that is in such turmoil? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that my pangs of low self-worth are not limited to me. Often my colleagues and I have discussions about this nagging sense that we are not enough.

Enter George Bailey and the classic Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life! George has been a faithful son and held the family business together. On numerous occasions he has put his own dreams on hold and sacrificed for friends and neighbors. To say that George is weary is an understatement. When his uncle loses the $8,000.00 dollar bank deposit George blames himself. The world seems to be caving in on him and he sees himself as a failure. In a moment of despair fueled by Mr. Potter’s comments, George contemplates ending his own life. As a result of family and friends storming heaven with their prayers, and an angel named Clarence is sent down to help George.

When George engages Clarence in a Q & A, George blurts out that the world would be better off if he, George, had never been born in the first place. Just then Clarence has an idea to grant George his wish and show George what life was like for those whom he loved because he was not born and therefore not around. Clarence brings him all over town and shows him the likes of Mr. Gower, Mr. Martini, Violet Blick and so many others including his beloved brother, Harry Bailey, and his wife, Mary. The next scene of the movie is George on the bridge crying and in a chant like rhythm pleading, “I want to live again, I want to live again, please God, I want to live again. Just then his friend, Burt, shows up and tells him the whole town is looking for you!

When George returns to his house he asks for his wife, Mary and his children. He hugs and kisses them and holds them tightly. He has found what truly matters and the neighbors he helped now return the favor.

This Christmas may we reflect on all the good we have done in our lives, the people we have helped whether friend or complete stranger. Silently gaze around the room as you open gifts under the Christmas tree or sit around the dining room table and treasure the fact that each and every one of us is enough. Let us fall on our knees in gratitude and humility not only to God but to one another. Let our New Year’s Resolution include building one another up so that our souls always feel their worth.

Men’s Cursillo # 239 was held on October 2-5, 2025, at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Lloyd’s Harbor, NY. The following are quotes from our newest Cursillistas:

“The Cursillo #239, October 2025, was wonderful. A progressive growing experience which changed me. A revelation that allowed me to remove the large obstacle, myself, to a friendship with the living Jesus.”
– Gene Johann

“Life changing event. I was resistant to attend, not sure why, but it was the truth. However, this has changed my life—more importantly, my relationship with Jesus. I want to learn about the Scriptures so I can be a better Christian. I also want to get involved with my church and local community by volunteering at my church.”

“This was the closest I have come to fully knowing how much Jesus loves me. This was the greatest retreat I have ever been on. I look forward to sharing this moment with others.”
– Christopher D. Diz

“This was an uplifting experience for me. I found some peace and direction to continue my journey.”
– Robert Fogarile

“Life is meant to be lived in union with God and in community with one another.” – Jerry Johnson

“My Cursillo experience was very rewarding. I had the opportunity to meet incredible people. I was able to deepen my faith in God. I was able to release and learn ways to give back to my community.”
– Tom Barden

“I honestly feel like this cleared a path for me – next step on my spiritual journey.” – Matt Hynes

“Truly an amazing weekend to connect with God and other men of faith. Highly Recommended!”
– Chris Wierzbicki

“What an incredible experience – so glad I did this. It helped me gain a closer relationship with God, connect with others and myself. I’ll never forget this experience.” – Patrick Sciacchitano

“The Cursillo was an amazing experience which was beyond my wildest dreams. I had no idea what to expect. I am so grateful for this opportunity.” – Ed Ayers

“For me, the experience was very transformative. For almost my entire life, my community has never embraced their spirituality. I have found love and pride in place of my misguided shame as a Christian.”
– Justin Huayamave

“I feel closer to God and am much better equipped to continue my spiritual journey.” – Tony Hayden

“A fantastic way to reconnect with God and Jesus Christ.” – Brian Lydting