What is "palanca"?
Could you believe that a 30 pound three-year-old child can lift a 5000 pound truck
off the ground by himself? He can, and it happens all the time at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
In the parking lot of the museum, there is a very real, very heavy truck that is attached to a very
large lever. Children take turns pulling down on the rope at the opposite end of the lever, lifting the
truck clearly off the ground.
"Palanca" is the Spanish word for lever. Levers have been used throughout history to
enable people to move amazing amounts of weight very easily. Palancas can help make seemingly impossible
tasks possible. In the Cursillo community, we refer to prayer and sacrifice that is offered up to God in
support of someone as "palanca", connecting him or her to God, for whom nothing is impossible. Often,
palancas are expressed in the form of encouraging notes or small items that remind the recipient of the
prayers and sacrifice that have been given for them.
As Christians, we are called to pray for each other. Lutheran Cursillo of Southern
California receives palanca in the form of prayer and sacrifice from many other three-day movements, and
likewise, we pray for their efforts to spread God's message and strengthen the Christian community in the
world.