The Essentials of Tres Dias

1.0 Preamble
The TRES DIAS Movement endeavors to bring Christians to a closer, more personal walk with their Lord Jesus Christ and encourage them to Christian leadership and Apostolic Action in their environments.

TRES DIAS is based on the principles, the method, and the teachings of the Roman Catholic Cursillo movement initially proposed by Bishop Juan Hervas, Eduardo Bonnin and their fellow Christians. Each candidate goes through three phases of the TRES DIAS movement: the pre-weekend, the three-day weekend1 and the Fourth Day. TRES DIAS is a Christian interdenominational movement.

"The founders of the Cursillo movement saw a world of great need around them. They knew that the answer to the needs of the world had to be Christ and His Grace; but...they saw Christians who did not live for Christ, and they saw a church that was...ineffective and without life. They developed the Cursillo to meet part of this problem: to provide any part of the church which was ready to undertake the formation of Christian life with all the people it needed -- people who would have the deep dedication to Christ and to bringing all peoples to Him -- people who would undertake a regular program of formation in Christianity, and who would make their Christian life conscious and vital -- people who would understand how to be part of a
unified apostolic effort."?

The main teaching of TRES DIAS is God's unqualified love for each of us through grace. It asks each member of the TRES DIAS community to grow in their personal piety, to study God's Word and other Christian writings and to express their love for Christ in Christian Apostolic Action.

These three aspects of Christian growth are stressed in the cloistered environment called, "the weekend." An invitation is issued during the weekend for each Pescadore to join a small group of his/her own choosing for continued support, prayer and encouragement.

In order to ensure consistency and stability within the TRES DIAS Movement, there must be certain essential aspects to which all TRES DIAS organizations conform. These Essentials fall into two categories: those which are quantitative and those which are qualitative in nature. It is the intent of TRES DIAS to use both of these categories as criteria for chartering local secretariats.

It should therefore be the policy of local secretariats to comply with these Essentials. Policies of local secretariats which deviate from these Essentials must be reviewed on an individual basis and are subject to the approval of TRES DIAS.