Saint Pope John Paul II
July 29, 2000 Jubilee Address to Cursillistas, in Rome
“Your presence here, so varied and festive, shows that the tiny
seed planted in
Spain
more than 50 years ago has become a great tree laden with fruits of the
Spirit. Indeed, it continues to be a successful response to the
question asked by my venerable Predecessor Pope Paul VI at the first world
Ultreya in Rome: ‘Can the Gospel still win over the mature person ... in urban and
rural cultures?’ You transform the world by becoming new men and
women. I am therefore delighted to join in your thanksgiving to the
Lord for all He has done and never ceases to do in the Church through the
Cursillos de Cristiandad. The theme of
this world Ultreya – Evangelizing the Milieus of the Third Millennium: A
‘Challenge’ for the Cursillos de Cristiandad – demonstrates your
efforts to repropose the experience of Christ to the men and women of the
21st century with new means and enthusiasm. This has
become ever more urgent, since whole countries and nations, where religion
and the Christian life were formerly flourishing and capable of fostering
a viable and working community of faith, are now put to a hard test ... as
a result of the constant spread of indifference to religion, of secularism
and atheism.”
“In
view of this situation which challenges believers to remake the Christian
fabric of the ecclesial community, the Cursillo method aims at helping to
transform in a Christian way the milieus where people live and work
through the involvement of ‘new men and women’ who have become such
from their encounter with Christ. This is the goal of the three-day
‘little course’ on Christianity, in which a team of priests and lay
people, supported by the prayer and sacrifices of the movement’s other
members, communicate the fundamental truths of the Christian faith in an
especially ‘living’ way. When presented in this way, the message
of Christ almost always opens participants in a Cursillo to the gift of
conversion and to a deeper awareness of the Baptism they have received and
of their own mission in the Church. They feel called to be the
prophetic ‘leaven’ which is kneaded into the dough so that the whole
mass will rise to be the ‘salt of the earth’ and the ‘light of the
world’ to proclaim to everyone they meet that only in Jesus Christ is
there salvation and that it is only in the mystery of the Word made flesh
that the mystery of man truly becomes clear.”
“
...This is your apostolate, carried out in constant harmony with the
Church, to show the ‘strength of communion’ which is at once the style
and the very essence of the People of God. As you face the various
forms of individualism which fragment and divide your evangelizing ability
and resources, join your missionary forces with those of the various
ecclesiastical groups raised up by the Spirit in the Church of our time.
Endeavor to restore the beauty of the first Christian communities, which
prompted pagans to say with admiration: ‘See how they love one
another!’ And always be docile to the directives of the
Magisterium. No charism, in fact, dispenses you from referring and
submitting to the Pastors of the Church, whose discernment is a guarantee
of fidelity for the charism, itself. May the Jubilee celebration
instill in all of you a renewed fidelity to your original inspiration and
a firmer ecclesial communion. Many people are looking to you for the
light of faith.”
“...During
the days of a Cursillo, the words of [a] popular Spanish song help the
participants to reflect on the multifaceted beauty of creation. In
encountering Christ, you have learned to look with new eyes at others and
at nature, at everyday events and at life in general. You have
experienced that true happiness is found in following the Lord. This
personal and community experience must be passed on to others. Many
men and women of our time, who unfortunately turn away from God, expect
from you the light of faith that will help them rediscover the colors of
life and the happiness of feeling loved by God.”
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Pope Paul VI
May 28, 1966 Address to the First World Ultreya, Rome
"Cursillos
de Cristiandad, that is the word, purified through experience, affirmed by
its fruits, that today travels with citizenship papers throughout the
world...”
"Whether some methods become obsolete, whether new manifestations of
the Spirit arise, the permanent task of the layman will continue to be the
infusion of Christianity into life through the encounter and personal
friendship with God and in communion with his brothers. The layman,
upon forming himself in Christianity, reforms his mentality and conforms
his life to Christ's image by means of faith, hope and charity; acting
with complete responsibility, he transforms the temporal structures in
which he is immersed; guided in his action by the glance of Christ, he
continually tries to remake the world according to God's plan and
design...”
"We
know that in your plan of spirituality and apostolate in the Cursillo
Movement the 'Sensus Ecclesiae' (mind of the Church) is the guiding light
that orients you...”
"Beloved sons and daughters: Our soul is so oppressed by the vision
of the evils which afflict the Church and mankind. But permit us to
express our overwhelming joy that at this moment floods our soul before
the immense chorus of your manly faith in Christ, your fidelity to the
Church, your fervent loyalty to this Chair of Peter and to the ministry of
the episcopal hierarchy.”
"Cursillos
de Cristiandad! Christ, the Church, the Pope, are counting on
you!"
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Pope
Francis also spoke to Cursillistas when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Read Pope Francis message to Cursillistas
The
Most Rev. Paul
Gregory Bootkoski,
Bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, is a Cursillista...
Read
Bishop Bootkoski's message on Cursillo.
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