ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO THE “CURSILLOS DE CRISTIANDAD” MOVEMENT
Saturday, July 29, 2000
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
1. I am pleased to extend my affectionate greeting to all of you who have come here from the five continents for the Third World Ultreya of the Cursillos de Cristiandad, the Ultreya of the Great Jubilee. Thank you for your visit and welcome to all.
I greet the Spanish-speaking cursillistas who have come from America and from Spain, recalling that this apostolic experience was founded in Palma de Mallorca by Bishop Juan Hervás, the zealous Pastor of that  ecclesial community.
I welcome each one of you and encourage you to make this Ultreya of the Great Jubilee a time of renewed commitment to holiness of life and to the apostolate.
I extend a cordial welcome to all the French-speaking participants.
I very cordially greet all who are with us from German-speaking countries. May this celebration strengthen your faith.
I greet the President of the World Organization of the Cursillos de Cristiandad and thank him for his cordial words to me in your name, and for presenting your movement's apostolic commitment and the good, which the Lord works through you. I greet the movement's founders, spiritual leaders and various officers. 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?" (AAS, 58, 1966, 503).
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 effort to re-propose the experience of Christ to the men and women of the 21st century with new means and enthusiasm. This has become even 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" (Christifideles laici, n. 34).
2. In view of this situation which challenges believers to "remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community" (ibid.), 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 (Mt 13: 33), to be the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world" (Mt 5: 13-14), to proclaim to everyone they meet that only in Jesus Christ is there salvation (Acts 4: 12), and that it is "only in the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man truly becomes clear" (Gaudium et spes, n. 22).
3. Dear brothers and sisters, be the courageous witnesses of the "service of the Truth" and work ceaselessly with the "strength of communion". In relying on your rich spiritual experiences, which are a treasure, take up the "challenge" that our time raises to the new evangelization and fearlessly give it your own response.
Faced with a culture that often denies the very existence of an objective Truth of universal value and frequently loses its way in the "shifting sands" of nihilism (cf. Fides et ratio, n. 5), the faithful must know how to show clearly that Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14: 6).
You who have generously opened your hearts to Jesus are being asked by him to proclaim his name untiringly to those who do not yet know him. He is calling you to his service, to the service of his Truth, the truth, which makes us free.
The more transparent this "diakonia of the truth" becomes in your daily lives, the more convincing it will be. As you are reminded in a prayer often used in the Cursillo Movement, "Christ has no hands, he has only our hands to change the world today. Christ has no feet; he has only our feet to lead this world to himself. Christ has no lips, he has only our lips to speak to the people".4. 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 ecclesial 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.
5. "Bright colors deck the fields in springtime.
Bright colors clothe the little birds outside.
Bright colors paint the rainbow we see shining..."
During the days of a cursillo, the words of this 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.
"Courage! Ultreya! Go forth!” the Successor of Peter repeats to you today. Look to Mary, an example of unfailing fidelity to God, and, like her, put your trust in every circumstance in God, the Father of Mercy, who guards your steps on the way of truth and love.
I extend the same cordial greetings to all the other pilgrims who have gathered here. In particular, to those of the Diocese of Leiria-Fátima, led by their Pastor, dear Bishop Serafim:
Dear brothers and sisters!
Two months have passed since I had the pleasure of being among you, enjoying your warm hospitality and witnessing your radiant joy at seeing the holiness of two of your compatriots confirmed: Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto. In seeing you here today - as the chosen representatives of this local Church - I see my visit repaid: you have come to the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles in a spirit of prayer and penance to implore pardon and forgiveness, and to renew your dedicated commitment to that work of divinizing humanity which began 2,000 years ago with the birth of the God made man.
I cordially greet the whole Diocese of Leiria-Fátima, with my wish that this Great Jubilee of the Incarnation will be for you all that "year of the Lord's favor" which became a reality with Jesus and in Jesus (cf. Lk 4: 19-21), so that you can hope confidently in the power of his message and saving work, love everyone with self-giving love and reparation for the ingratitude to God of so many, and witness to faith courageously and consistently in today's society.
May the Virgin Most Holy, mystically present in your Marian shrines, the most distinguished of which, by her choice, is the Shrine of Fátima, grant you her motherly guidance on your journey of penance and conversion, and support you in the fulfillment of your good intentions for your Diocese and for the world's salvation.
I cordially greet the pilgrims from Poland who have come to this meeting. I thank you for your commitment to the new evangelization and to building the civilization of love and solidarity in the world. The Church needs you! She needs your Christian attitude and your holiness, so that she can carry out the great work of salvation in the world.
I affectionately assure you of a constant remembrance in my prayer and impart my Apostolic Blessing to you all, as a pledge of abundant divine graces.
The second part of the Christian vision is the call to become other Christs, to carry on the mission of Christ, to bring the good news of Christ to all people. Together, the Christian vision is the call to live an empowering, self-giving, magnanimous life. The first day concludes with a witness talk from a layperson telling how he or she has caught that vision and walked the walk. The good news is that the Christian vision works!Second, empowerment comes from a methodology for encountering Christ’s Spirit, the Cursillo tripod of  holiness, formation and evangelization. The second day of the Weekend is dedicated to the formative process for living the Christian vision, ultimately challenging participants to commit to the spiritual life and commit to becoming Christian leaders.Holiness is my commitment to living a personal relationship with Christ’s Spirit, allotting time for prayer, meditation and other practices. Formation is living a growth relationship with Christ’s Spirit; it is living a growth process; it is our on-going search to deepen our spiritual lives. Evangelization, in general, is what happens when the Spirit sets us on fire to do Christ’s work; in particular, it is the reprogramming of our attitudes and values to put on the mind and heart of Christ so that we can become Christian leaders, working to change our environments.The Cursillo tripod for encountering the Spirit is not a static, mechanical concept. For lack of a better term, it should be called a "dynamic tripod", because it is a dynamic process. For the Cursillo tripod to be effective, one must commit to the entire process. My holiness impacts my formation. My formation impacts my holiness. My holiness and formation impact my evangelization. And my evangelization impacts both my holiness and formation. The good news is that living this dynamic tripod works: it produces Christian leaders!Third, empowerment comes from the Cursillo community which is capable of creating the environment for the operation of the Spirit on the Weekend. Environment is a vital element for transforming moments in peoples’ lives. Especially compassionate environments where people are fully present to one another in a caring, attentive way. Such environments enable people to change and grow, to let go and let God transform them.On every Cursillo Weekend, despite differences in personalities and spiritualities, the entire Cursillo community comes together to create a compassionate environment for the Weekend participants. It is a miracle that happens every Weekend! It is the gift of the Holy Spirit!Further, it takes the whole Cursillo community to put on a Weekend. There is a team of priests and laypersons, who participate in the Weekend experience, meeting for weeks to prepare the Weekend talks and form a core community. There is a whole community who storm Heaven with their prayers for the participants. Where there is self-giving, the Spirit is present and operating and transforming lives.Both spiritual directors and laypersons give talks on the Weekend. Views and reactions to all the talks are exchanged in small groups. Participants start out as strangers in these small groups, but they quickly become a caring Christian community, further creating an environment for personal and spiritual growth. Self-giving is contagious and so is the Spirit.So, on the Weekend, the Christian vision has been presented as well as the methodology for living that vision. Throughout the Weekend, participants have experienced the impact of a Spirit-filled community, and have in fact become part of that community.On the final day of the Weekend, participants learn additional strategies and tactics for Christianizing their environments—their families, their parishes, their workplace and other institutions in society. They learn how to analyze their environments and develop a game plan for transforming their environments.There is one last bit of good news for the participants. The Cursillo community they have come to enjoy will always be available to them. They are offered a post-Weekend support program in their local areas. Why? Because sharing a journey, including a spiritual journey, is more effective, more energizing and more fun than going it alone. Having companions on the journey helps one persevere in personal and spiritual growth, and in our efforts to carry on Christ’s mission of transforming the world.Bringing about change in ourselves and in the world around us is an overwhelming task. We can’t do it alone, and Cursillo’s message is that we don’t need to. An isolated Christian is a paralyzed Christian!In the final analysis, Cursillo is much more than a "short course" in Christian living. It is an experience that enables us to reach our innermost hearts, and when we reach that core of our being, we are more intimately at home with ourselves, more intimately united with others, more intimately united with God. The Cursillo Weekend is a gift, a gift of inner freedom, a gift of empowerment, a gift of the Holy Spirit!
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