Letter from Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis), Archbishop of Buenos Aires, to the Cursillistas of the Archdiocese,
June 13, 2011, Feast of Mary, Mother of the Church
My dear Cursillistas:
"The good seed are the children of the kingdom." (Mt. 13:38)
As we approach the celebration of the feast of Saint Paul, your patron and model of how to live "de colores", we give thanks to God for all the fruits that the Cursillos in Christianity Movement has generously given the Church.
Your service of proclaiming Christ by being his witnesses in your everyday environments, is an embodiment, a
concrete renewal of the Baptism that we have received in Him and makes you disciples and missionaries of the Word, as this was expressed in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: " Through their baptism and confirmation all are commissioned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself" (Lumen Gentium no. 33).
I write to you conscious of the challenge that today's society presents to the enculturation of the Gospel; but I trust that your audacity and apostolic fervor - born of a personal encounter with self and with Christ - will lead you to make history for the good of all. So that, many brothers and sisters, marginalized or not, who live on the fringe may feel embraced by the love of Jesus.
To be a pilgrim in our City means not becoming comfortable, but to be open to life and to pay attention to what is
happening in our heart - like a good Samaritan confronted with the difficult circumstances of so many brothers and
sisters.
It is necessary that the Cursillos in Christianity Movement, through the participation of everyone, continue its
journey of pastoral conversion as proposed at Aparecida (Cf. 5th General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, "Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ")
As Cursillistas living through difficult times you need to ask God for the Grace to have many candidates, to have an ongoing precursillo, so as not to fall into the hopelessness that paralyzes and causes anguish. The gift of the Kerigma that you received in your Cursillo sends you on mission as proposed by the tripod of piety, study and action.
As an Archdiocesan Church, we need the unity of all in Christ, so that He, and only He may reign in our hearts and we
may thus be able to recognize him like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
In thanking you for your journey as a Cursillista, I ask you not to stop renewing your apostolic zeal and dedication and that of your brothers and sisters in your Group Reunion before Jesus in the Eucharist.
Today more than ever we need that your nearness in the environments be a source of light and joy for so many brothers and sisters who do not yet know that God is a Father who loves them tenderly.
Today more than ever we need your presence so that many families may encounter the transcendent love of Christ - a new and greater dimension of human love.
Today more than ever we need you and your witness at the Ultreyas, so as to go "onward", to go beyond, in the proclamation and experience of the Kerigma.
I ask that you pray for me. May Jesus bless you and Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, keep you.
Affectionately,
Cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio SJ,
Archbishop of Buenos Aires
"The good seed are the children of the kingdom." (Mt. 13:38)
As we approach the celebration of the feast of Saint Paul, your patron and model of how to live "de colores", we give thanks to God for all the fruits that the Cursillos in Christianity Movement has generously given the Church.
Your service of proclaiming Christ by being his witnesses in your everyday environments, is an embodiment, a
concrete renewal of the Baptism that we have received in Him and makes you disciples and missionaries of the Word, as this was expressed in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: " Through their baptism and confirmation all are commissioned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself" (Lumen Gentium no. 33).
I write to you conscious of the challenge that today's society presents to the enculturation of the Gospel; but I trust that your audacity and apostolic fervor - born of a personal encounter with self and with Christ - will lead you to make history for the good of all. So that, many brothers and sisters, marginalized or not, who live on the fringe may feel embraced by the love of Jesus.
To be a pilgrim in our City means not becoming comfortable, but to be open to life and to pay attention to what is
happening in our heart - like a good Samaritan confronted with the difficult circumstances of so many brothers and
sisters.
It is necessary that the Cursillos in Christianity Movement, through the participation of everyone, continue its
journey of pastoral conversion as proposed at Aparecida (Cf. 5th General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean, "Disciples and Missionaries of Jesus Christ")
As Cursillistas living through difficult times you need to ask God for the Grace to have many candidates, to have an ongoing precursillo, so as not to fall into the hopelessness that paralyzes and causes anguish. The gift of the Kerigma that you received in your Cursillo sends you on mission as proposed by the tripod of piety, study and action.
As an Archdiocesan Church, we need the unity of all in Christ, so that He, and only He may reign in our hearts and we
may thus be able to recognize him like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
In thanking you for your journey as a Cursillista, I ask you not to stop renewing your apostolic zeal and dedication and that of your brothers and sisters in your Group Reunion before Jesus in the Eucharist.
Today more than ever we need that your nearness in the environments be a source of light and joy for so many brothers and sisters who do not yet know that God is a Father who loves them tenderly.
Today more than ever we need your presence so that many families may encounter the transcendent love of Christ - a new and greater dimension of human love.
Today more than ever we need you and your witness at the Ultreyas, so as to go "onward", to go beyond, in the proclamation and experience of the Kerigma.
I ask that you pray for me. May Jesus bless you and Our Lady, Mother of Divine Grace, keep you.
Affectionately,
Cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio SJ,
Archbishop of Buenos Aires